


Fallen Angel

by fionasfables



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Dark Rey (Star Wars), Emperor Kylo Ren, Empress Rey, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force-Sensitive Leia Organa, Happy Ending, M/M, Not Canon Compliant - Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Not Canon Compliant - Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rey (Star Wars) is Nobody, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Rey/Kylo Ren, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader Rey (Star Wars), This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:54:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 52,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24181678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fionasfables/pseuds/fionasfables
Summary: “Join me. Please.” Kylo's lip trembled as he extended a gloved hand towards her. The conflict in Rey’s soul crescendoed to a deafening roar and she screwed up her eyes at the pain of it all. Just as she thought she would surely die if it continued for any longer, the madness was replaced with a deafening silence, and suddenly she knew what she had to do.***Rey takes Kylo Ren's hand.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker, Luke Skywalker & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 59
Kudos: 154





	1. Chapter 1

“You know the truth. Say it.”

Standing in what had previously been the throne room of the Supremacy, surrounded by the bodies of the Praetorian guard, Rey had never known such conflict. She felt the tears stream down her face as Ben implored her to acknowledge what she had always known to be the truth about her parents. To say it out loud, however, would make it real, and it would mean that she was, truly, totally, and completely alone.

“You’re not alone.”

Ben had spoken those words to her, just hours ago on Ahch - To, through their Force bond. She was so used to feeling the conflict within him, but now that their Force bond had invariably been severed along with Snoke’s deteriorating body, she realized, painfully, that this conflict was all her own. The end of the Force bond meant that, if she ever made it off the First Order flagship alive, she would return to her life of solitude and emptiness. Without Ben, she had no one who understood her pain and guilt at the constant battle going on within her, no one who understood how hard it really was to ignore the dark side when it promised to give you the life you never had. None of her friends, not Finn nor Poe, or even Master Luke or General Organa, could even begin to understand how much they had been asking of her. Ben asked for nothing, and promised her everything. To everyone else, she had a role to play - scavenger, rebel, Jedi. All Ben had ever asked of her was to just be Rey.

Her thoughts shifted to their conversation in the elevator and she remembered the tension between them, the energy of their Force bond crackling like electricity in the enclosed space. She remembered looking up at him, drinking in every inch of his face, from his dark eyes to the ugly scar she gave him on Starkiller Base, and wanting nothing more than to be closer to him, even when he was standing inches in front of her. She had hoped he would take the cuffs off her own hands so she could touch his once again, and maybe even reach up and run her fingers through his long, dark hair, caress his sunken cheeks, stand on the balls of her feet and kiss him directly on his perfect lips -  


_Stop it_ , she told herself aggressively. If he thought of her like that, he would have done something about it by now. But then again, she thought of him that way and she hadn’t done a damn thing about it. There were lonely nights when she thought of him only in that way, nights when she was unable to sleep and she imagined him laying beside her, taking her in his massive arms and holding her until all the dark dreams faded away and she was finally able to rest. She couldn’t imagine a safer place. Except he tried to kill you, the voice in her head reminded her. Then she remembered all the times he could have killed her and he didn’t; the interrogation room, on Takodana, when she shipped herself to the Supremacy defenseless just a few short minutes ago. Had it really only been minutes? It felt like a lifetime.

And after all, hadn’t she been the one to try to kill him, the first time their force bond opened? Hadn’t she wounded him and left him for dead on Starkiller base? Her emotions churned uneasily and the longer she thought of her conflicting feelings for Ben, the more unsettled she felt. Did it matter that he hadn’t tried so hard to kill her when he was personally responsible for the destruction of countless innocent lives? Didn’t he torture Poe and try to run Finn through with a lightsaber? 

“Say it,” Ben repeated. Her consciousness was thrust back into the throne room, where she was surrounded by flame and dead bodies and the painful knowledge that she was, genuinely, no one.

“They were nobody,” she whispered.

“They were filthy junk traders who sold you off for drinking money,” Ben said flippantly. The tears fell faster down her sweaty, bloody face. “They’re dead in a pauper’s grave in the Jakku desert. You have no place in this story. You come from nothing. You’re nothing.”

The pain Rey felt was momentarily replaced by anger as she stared at her feet in disgust. How could he say that she was nothing? Her face began turning red as she remembered the thoughts she entertained about him, and how they had made her vulnerable and weak. You’re nothing. She clenched her fists in frustration and embarrassment at the realization that she had trusted another person who was about to leave her and let her down, just like Luke, and Han, and her parents before them.

“But not to me,” Ben finished, and her eyes shot back to him. “Join me. Please.” His lip trembled as he extended a gloved hand towards her. The conflict in Rey’s soul crescendoed to a deafening roar and she screwed up her eyes at the pain of it all. Just as she thought she would surely die if it continued for any longer, the madness was replaced with a deafening silence, and suddenly she knew what she had to do.

Rey was so tired of fighting the losing battles. She was tired of fighting for the Resistance, and tired of masquerading as their beacon of hope. She was tired of fighting against the call of the dark side, and tired of pretending that she didn’t feel the temptation to submit to her anger at how hard her life had been, and how hard it would continue to be. For once in her whole life, she wanted to be selfish, and she wanted to belong to something that accepted her for who she was. Luke Skywalker would never accept her like Ben Solo had accepted her, incomplete and imperfect and hurting. She would not be the last Jedi. Let that burden fall to someone else.

Rey broke her uncomfortably long eye contact with Ben to stare out the viewport at the Resistance fleet, and watched as escape pod after escape pod was reduced to space dust by the First Order’s cannons. Finn might have been in one of those. Maybe Leia was, too. And so, in one parting farewell to the light side, Rey turned back to Ben, and with resignation in her voice, promised him, “I’ll join you, but only if you let the Resistance go.”

Ben’s face was contorted with disbelief and conflict as she awaited his response with bated breath. She wondered, briefly, if she was worth it to him. Would he let the remainder of the Resistance go to ensure she would remain at his side? 

Keeping his eyes on her face, Ben reached down to his comm and commanded, “Cease firing on the rebel escape craft. The Resistance is dead. Ten escape pods are not worth our ammunition. That’s a direct order from the Supreme Leader himself,” and he shut off his comm before a response could be sent through.

The guns on the hull of the Supremacy quieted, and Rey sent a silent “thank you” to Leia, Luke, Finn and Poe through the Force. She wasn’t sure what she was thanking them for, anymore, exactly, but the gratitude she felt in her soul was quickly overshadowed by excitement and anticipation as Ben stretched his hand out to her once more.

This is what he had seen when they touched hands through the Force bond; Rey, turning to the dark, and the two of them bringing a new order to the galaxy together. As she raised her hand and grasped Kylo Ren’s, she smiled sinisterly as all the pain, trepidation and discord of the last twenty years fled her body and she was filled with a sense of purpose, belonging, and power. This is what Kylo had been telling her for so long the darkness could offer her. She felt more alive than she had ever felt in her entire life, like she was taking her first long breath after almost drowning in the oceans of Ahch - To, and it was painful, and it was pleasurable, and it was perfect.  
Staring down at the destruction and chaos around her, the throne room ablaze while the former Supreme Leader sat dead in his throne and the new Supreme Leader held her hand and looked at her like she was the only being in the galaxy, Rey had to admit - she had been destined for the dark side.

***

Halfway across the galaxy on an old sacred Jedi planet, Luke Skywalker’s eyes snapped open and he fell, hard, onto the rock above which he had been previously levitating. Deep in meditation, he had felt the disturbance in the Force as if he had been there when it happened; he had lost yet another student. Rey had fallen to the dark side, and Luke was once again the last Jedi. He cursed himself endlessly as his heart filled with despair and regret. How did he allow this to happen again? What would he tell Leia?

When his thoughts turned to Leia, his sorrow only increased. How could he tell Leia, the only family he had left, that he had lost the Resistance’s best hope at victory? Rey’s soul had been pure and good, so much like his nephew all those years ago at the Jedi Temple, but also like Ben Solo, Luke had felt her conflict and raw power, and he had feared creating another Kylo Ren. Watching her go straight to the dark side in training without any hesitation made him practically manic, and in his desperation to avoid making the same mistake twice, his hubris had condemned Rey’s soul. Luke had allowed his pride to convince him that if he told her the truth about his role in creating Kylo Ren, she would run from him, straight into the arms of the dark side. His mistake with Ben Solo was to assume his choice was made; Luke’s mistake with Rey was to assume he could make the choice for her. And so he had lost them both.

What he refused to do this time, however, was give up. When he lost Ben he ran as far away as he could from the Jedi and his family, afraid and ashamed of what he had caused, and sought refuge in solitude on this island, isolating himself physically as he cut himself off spiritually from the Force. Luke may not have learned his lesson the first time, but he would be damned if he wallowed in self - pity on this sacred piece of rock while the fruit of his failures wreaked havoc throughout the galaxy.  


Closing his eyes, and for the first time in many years, Luke reached out in the Force for his twin sister, the last Princess of Alderaan.

***

“General, they’ve stopped firing.”

Poe Dameron, previous commander and flyboy extraordinaire, sounded absolutely dumbfounded as he observed the First Order cannons shudder to a halt from the viewport of the escape pod. Connix whipped her head around at his declaration, and stared in matched shock and disbelief as the Supremacy sat still in open space while the dwindling remains of the Resistance sped further and further from reach.

“General?” Poe repeated, but Leia Organa, the general of the Resistance army, was far from that escape pod hurtling to safety. While her physical body sat in the pod, recovering from her unprotected jaunt in open space, her mind was on Ahch - To, with her brother, and on the Supremacy, with her son.

Rey had joined the dark side. Rey had willingly joined the dark side. It was laid out in front of her clear as day; Luke’s horror and regret, Kylo Ren’s exaltation and pride, Rey’s resolve and power, and all the hope Leia had felt as the Resistance made a desperate run to safety was shattered, and the realization of all they had lost sent her reeling into the most painful anguish she had felt since the death of Han Solo.

Anguish that was somehow deepened as she gazed out of the viewport just in time to watch the Raddus jump into hyperdrive and slice through the heart of the Supremacy.

The escape pod erupted in a deafening, unbelieving roar. Every rebel in the pod shouted in dismay at the loss of Admiral Amilyn Holdo, even Poe, who had been ready to kill her in a mutiny of rage no less than an hour ago.

Poe, the closest thing she had to a son since she lost Ben all those years ago, turned to Leia again. “General,” he pleaded, grasping her hand, “General, what do we do?”

All eyes turned to her. She sighed internally. When she was a young princess, senator, and rebel, she longed for this opportunity - to lead good, moral young souls into battle against fear and tyranny, to prove that good will always prevail over evil, and that love conquers all. The years of peace had been too few and far between, however, and Leia was no longer the starry - eyed, idealistic young woman she once had been. A lifetime’s worth of losses, compounded by the two she had just suffered, had battle hardened her, and now she fought for the people who had asked her to lead them, those who had placed their lives in her hands and were now turning to her in their most desperate hour. She would continue to lead them as long as they permitted her to, because it was her duty, and because it was a privilege to serve these young people as they fought for a galaxy that would not fight with them. Leia knew her time left was short, and that she may never see peace again in this lifetime. She no longer fought so that she could see a better future, but that these people, who had become her adopted family when her blood family was torn apart by the hands of Snoke, could have peace in their time.

She stood to address them. “Set course for Crait. We will not let Admiral Holdo’s sacrifice be in vain.” She looked each tired, heartbroken rebel in the face, and then turned her eyes to the remains of the Supremacy. “May the force be with her, always.”

***

Aboard the Supremacy, all was chaos. No sooner had Kylo and Rey joined hands than they were blown apart by the impact of the Raddus’ final attack on the First Order. 

“Rey!” Kylo shouted, and ran over to where she sat on the ground, rubbing the back of her head where it hit the deck. “Are you okay? Are you alright?” 

Rey smiled at him. She couldn’t believe how good it felt to be worried about, to let someone else be the strong one for once. “Yes, I’m fine, but I’m sure it’ll leave a mark,” she laughed joylessly.

Kylo looked like the last thing he wanted to do was laugh, but as he reached out to grab her arms as if to pull her closer and examine her head for himself, Hux burst through the lift into the throne room, rambling, “Supreme Leader, the rebel scum conducted a suicide attack on your flagship, we must evacuate you at once -” He stopped abruptly at the sight of Rey sitting on the floor by the viewport and Kylo Ren crouched over her, the Praetorian guard scattered dead across the room, and Snoke, bisected in his own throne, not unlike the Supremacy itself.

In a split second Hux pulled out his blaster and pointed it at Rey. “What is the meaning of this? Why is the Jedi scavenger alive? Why is the Supreme Leader dead?”

With a flick of his wrist Kylo used the Force to knock the blaster out of Hux’s pale hand and pull the skinny general across the throne room floor until he was kneeling in front of Kylo. Rey scrambled to her feet to stand behind Kylo, and watched with unbridled glee the events unfolding before her.

“The Supreme Leader is gone. He was weak and foolish, so I destroyed him.” Hux struggled to free himself against the invisible bonds. “He was holding me back. He was holding you back, Hux.” Kylo surprised himself by saying that. He had fully intended on killing the man the moment Hux pointed his weapon at Rey. Maybe he would have let her do it, allowing her to solidify allegiance to him and the dark side. But a voice in the back of his head, one that lingered from years ago no matter how hard he tried to kill it, reminded him that killing the Supreme Leader and highest ranking general in one fell swoop might not be the most prudent political tactic. He hated that voice. He hated that voice that had abandoned him with a caretaker droid to attend last minute strategy sessions and late night briefings. He hated that voice that had forgotten his fifth birthday because there was an urgent vote in the Senate that same day. He hated that voice that had hidden his bloodline from him for all those years. He hated that it still had influence over him, and he hated that the voice was always right. 

Kylo let his anger wash over him for a moment, savoring the power it gave him. He turned his attention back to Hux. “Snoke kept you on a leash, Hux, because he feared your power.” Obviously, this wasn’t true. Snoke kept Hux on a leash because Hux was impulsive and stupid, and was nothing but a pawn in Snoke’s game of chess. Kylo had also been one of Snoke’s pawns. Killing his master had liberated him incomprehensibly, and while Kylo was basking in his newfound freedom, Hux would be remaining a pawn. A valuable pawn, for certain, but a pawn nonetheless. That was information, however, to which Hux would not be privy. 

Kylo took this pause in his monologue to glance over her shoulder at Rey. On the outside, he was calm, cool, and collected, but on the inside, he felt like an entire dreadnaught’s worth of panic alarms were sounding incessantly in his brain. She had chosen him. Rey, the most beautiful, fearsome, unbelievable woman in the entire galaxy, chose him, the rejected offspring of a planetless princess and a dead criminal. Reluctantly, Kylo thought back on the lift ride to the throne room and how Rey had called him by his birth name, soothing him; he reminisced back to how he had imagined undoing her cuffs, taking her by the hand, and whisking her far, far away from the First Order and the Resistance, to a place where they could just be. He wondered idly if Rey knew the impact she had on him ever since she struck him down on Starkiller Base.

Now, like then, Rey looked like a fallen angel. Her teeth were bared at Hux and her eyes were alight with a fiery rage. She never strayed her hand too far from the saber clipped to her belt, and when she glanced up at him and smiled coyly his heart literally stopped beating. What was this power she held over him? He was the grandson of Darth Vader, the Master of the Knights of Ren, Supreme Leader of the whole kriffin’ galaxy and this girl caused him to unravel with a smile. Even if she didn’t kill him herself, she would surely be the death of him. Rey could ask anything of him, and he wouldn’t hesitate to bend to her every whim. He, the Jedi killer, had allowed the last Jedi to transform him from the most powerful Force user in the galaxy to an obedient servant who would stop at nothing to give her everything. He had no idea how it happened, and the worst part was that he absolutely didn’t care at all.

Kylo took a deep breath and looked back at Hux squirming on the floor beneath him.

“The Supreme Leader forced me to call off the strike against the Resistance in his name, saying that the girl was all we needed.” Kylo began spinning what would be the official lie of Snoke’s death, knowing that it would placate Hux, having been inside the puny general’s mind from the moment he stalked through the door. Hux was outraged that Snoke had allowed the Resistance to escape unharmed, and was on his way to beseech the dead Supreme Leader to reconsider when the Supremacy was split in two.

“We had the last of the Resistance in our grasp, and he,” Kylo pointed at the lifeless body draped over the ornate throne, “was prolonging the cat and mouse game to keep us occupied and distracted from the new order we could impose on the galaxy. One without him.

“It will be the first priority of the First Order to eliminate the Resistance, find and kill Luke Skywalker, and then, Hux…” Kylo caressed the skinny pale neck through the Force, and Hux found it suddenly rather difficult to breathe. “Hux, you will have power beyond your wildest, pathetic dreams.”

Obviously, that wasn’t true either. Kylo would kill Hux the second he outlived his usefulness.

As he tightened his Force choke on Hux, he searched the general’s mind and found exactly what he had hoped for - Hux had taken the bait.

Hux was also slowly turning purple and clutching at his own neck, so Kylo released the pressure long enough for Hux to spit out, “Long live the Supreme Leader!”

Kylo tightened his force grip on Hux’s windpipe again. “What do you think the converted Jedi is still doing here, Hux? Show your superior some respect.”

Only once Hux realized what Kylo meant did contempt flash in his beady eyes, but the feeble little man was on the brink of unconsciousness, so he unwillingly croaked out - 

“Long live the Supreme Leaders!”


	2. Chapter 2

By the time Kylo had dismissed Hux to coordinate recovery from the purple haired bitch’s suicide manuever and evacuation of the survivors, he was in a full fledged panic. Rey was standing before him, wide eyed and waiting, when it occurred to him that he didn’t have a plan. He had just declared one of the First Order’s most wanted rebels the co - Supreme Leader, they were still flying half a ship, and with every second that passed the Resistance was getting further from reach. Rey must have gotten tired of watching him stand there with his mouth hanging open, because she smiled again and said, timidly,

“So, I don’t really know the first thing about being a Supreme Leader? I mean,” she talked quickly, stumbling over her words in an effort to not offend him, “I’m flattered but I just don’t know if I’m up for the job right now..”

She trailed off, gazing up at him expectantly. Kylo took a deep breath.

“It’s fine,” he rumbled, “you don’t actually have to do anything yet. It’s just a title anyway, and it will become obsolete once you and I bring about a new order to the galaxy. As you saw with Hux, the First Order will need some time to warm up to the thought of not killing you immediately upon sight.”

Rey nodded, her face set and eyes gleaming. She was stunning.

The ship was also falling apart beneath them, so Kylo said,

“We need to locate my TIE fighter and get to the Finalizer. From there we can track the whereabouts of the Resistance and begin planning the next attack.”

He could have sworn he saw a shadow of concern flitter across Rey’s face, but when he blinked, it was gone, and was replaced with a smirk.

“I have some ideas for how to take down the Resistance,” Rey said, and Kylo felt relief wash over him. He had been worried that, after the initial moment had passed, she would regret choosing him over the Resistance, and would beg him not to pursue them again. What was he supposed to do, however? Let blatant opposition to his regime go unpunished?

Kylo Ren was slightly taken aback by how quickly he had adjusted to his extremely recent promotion to Supreme Leader. It had never been his intention to be Supreme Leader. For obvious reasons, he had a physical aversion to politics and politicians, but when he imagined ruling with Rey by his side, the act seemed almost pleasant. His mind briefly wandered to contemplate other pleasant acts they could partake in together, but he slammed the door on those thoughts almost as quickly as they started. The Force bond should have died with Snoke, but one could never be too careful...until he was sure Rey could not randomly peer in through a window to his brain, he was going to have to keep his thoughts exceptionally chaste.

“Come on,” Kylo said gruffly, and set off quickly to find his TIE fighter, Rey jogging to keep up.

In his haste to get Rey onto a ship that was in one piece, he forgot how painfully small his TIE fighter was. The cockpit was designed for one pilot much smaller than Kylo, and it definitely wasn’t designed for Kylo and Rey both. He hesitated at the hatch before Rey, perhaps sensing his uncertainty, pushed him, hard, and he fell into the seat. She flashed him another one of her cruel, beautiful smiles, plopped herself down on his lap, and waited patiently for him to begin navigating the ship.

Kylo Ren had died and he was in hell, as he rightfully deserved. Kylo Ren was burning in an eternal pyre of pain where Rey was seated on his lap and he was expected to pilot a TIE fighter. This was surely some sort of fucked up penance the Force had concocted specifically to torture him for his sins and drive him over the brink of insanity. It was certainly some sort of nightmare of a joke that he would wake up from in a cold sweat, mind racing and breathing heavy as he reminded himself over and over again that it was just a dream. Kylo closed his eyes, opened them again, and found himself to still be very much awake, so he took a deep breath, and started up the ship, as accepting of his fate as an unrepentant masochist could be.

***

Rey had died and gone to heaven, and she was unsure exactly what she did to deserve the paradise she was currently enjoying, but it must have been really good, because she was currently seated on Kylo Ren’s lap, hurtling through space toward her new flagship. She thanked the Force over and over again in a silent prayer that lasted from the moment she sat down to the moment the TIE fighter landed in the hangar of the Finalizer. As they landed, she twirled her loose hair in her fingers nervously, and not wanting to stand up quite yet, she placed her hand on Kylo’s knee and gazed up at him, trying to memorize every inch of his face. Kylo was frozen beneath her, sitting as still as a statue, his hands still on the controls, so in a moment of courage she reached over and grabbed his large hand with her small one. His eyes followed her every move, and after a long, surprisingly comfortable silence, she cleared her throat and whispered,

“Thank you for choosing me. No one’s ever done that before, and…” she trailed off before she could finish her thought, because that wasn’t really true, was it? Finn had chosen her, and Leia, and Luke took some convincing but he finally came around. Her heart ached unexpectedly for her old friends. She wondered what they were up to now. Despite herself, she hoped that they were safe. Rey started to wonder if they missed her, or if they were asking each other where she was, but before she could entertain the thought much longer, she pushed it forcefully out of her head.

She frowned and her brow furrowed. Rey Nobody from Nowhere had finally found a path and she was going to stick to it. Kylo was offering her everything she ever wanted - a home, a sense of belonging, safety. How could she even think of jeopardizing any of that for the people who had, time and time again, rejected her and misunderstood her and blamed her for things she couldn’t control? She felt vitriolic anger rising up inside of her, and she was shocked at how good and right it felt. Closing her eyes, Rey allowed the anger to consume her and fill her with power. She was thriving off it, like it was the very life force inside of her putting air in her lungs, and when she finally felt satisfied, Rey snapped open her eyes to see Kylo Ren patiently waiting for her to finish her declaration of gratitude.

“Together, you and I will bring peace, justice, and security to our new galaxy,” Rey finished.

For the first time ever, Rey thought she saw a semblance of a smile ghost Kylo’s full lips, but it disappeared so quickly she could have sworn it was a trick of the light.

Kylo squeezed her hand lightly and said simply, “I will follow wherever you lead. I am yours to command, and yours alone.” And with that, he let go of her hand and shifted her off his legs so he could clamber out of the cockpit, leaving Rey to grapple with that revelation on her own.

***

On Crait, the remainder of the Resistance was bustling behind a gigantic reinforced door, gathering as much equipment as they could before Chewie arrived with the Millenium Falcon to take them to a more permanent base. When Rey had not returned from her sojourn to the Supremacy, Chewie contacted General Organa, hoping that Rey had met up with the Resistance herself. Leia had sadly informed her Wookie friend that Rey wasn’t coming back, and gave him the coordinates of the stronghold on Crait.

More difficult than informing Chewie of Rey’s fate had been telling Finn. Before the former Stormtrooper returned from his death wish of a mission with the young mechanic, Leia had pulled Poe aside and informed him of the bad news. Poe and Finn had a special bond, so when Finn jumped out of the transport and the first thing he asked was “Where’s Rey?”, Leia motioned to Poe.

“Hey, buddy!” Poe exclaimed, wrapping Finn in a hug, “Good to see you. Let’s go for a walk.”

“But, Rey-” Finn started, before Poe grabbed him by the elbow and dragged him to a far corner of the expansive bunker.

When the boys returned, Finn looked absolutely heartbroken, and Leia’s soul ached for him. She had decided to not inform the entire Resistance of Rey’s troubling decision for as long as possible. So long as the Resistance had hope that their young Jedi was out there somewhere, fighting for them and their cause, it could give them the strength they needed to rebuild, at least for the time being. Leia felt ill at the prospect of lying to her people, but the loss of Rey would just be too much to bear right now. If there was one thing the princess had learned in all her years of rebellion, war, and leadership it was the overwhelming power of hope - even if it was misplaced.

Leia couldn’t lie to Rey’s friends though, which is why she had elected to tell Chewie, Poe, and Finn. She trusted them to keep the secret, and to help ease the pain of the truth once the time to divulge it to the Resistance had come. If Leia was being honest with herself, there was another reason why she was waiting to inform the Resistance of Rey’s defection. Part of Leia hoped and prayed that Rey hadn’t completely given herself up to the dark side, and that she would saunter into the makeshift base any second now, ready to give an explanation for all the strange happenings surrounding her Force signature.

Even generals needed something to hope in, after all.

Suddenly, Chewie banged on the fortified door and bellowed the encrypted password Leia had sent him. The soldier posted by the door for security glanced at Leia, and she nodded. Chewie ignored everyone else in the room and ran straight to her.

Engulfing the Wookie in a hug, Leia murmured, “I know. I miss her too.”

Chewie wailed. She patted his hairy back and turned to address her troops.

“It’s time to leave. Crait is no long term command center, and it’s in the Resistance’s best interests to put as much distance between ourselves and the First Order as possible. Those escape pods we took here are space junk now, and none of the speeders in this bunker are any good for off planet travel.” General Organa motioned to Poe to continue.

“We’ll all be piling on the Millenium Falcon, so better get real comfy real quick, people. We need as much of this equipment in the craft as can fit, so let’s get packing before the First Order decides to make planetfall.”

With every rebel attentively listening to Poe’s plan, no one noticed their general sit down on a broken, upturned fuselage part. Leia closed her eyes and smiled at the first real good news the Resistance had gotten in a while.

Leia stood up, and all eyes snapped to her. She smiled.

“We’re going to Ajan Kloss,” she told her rebels,

“Luke Skywalker is waiting for us.”

***

If the Stormtroopers aboard the Finalizer felt any aversion to Rey’s presence, they didn’t show it. Then again, Rey reminded herself, most of the Stormtroopers who have met me died at my hands.

Not Finn, Rey reminded herself.

When she finally caught up to him, Kylo was getting a status report from the Stormtroopers on the deck.

“Sir, transmissions from the Supremacy indicate that most, but not all, of the few survivors have been recovered,” the Stormtrooper was saying. “General Hux is en route to the Finalizer now.”

“Very well,” Kylo grumbled, and motioned for Rey to follow him. Rey didn’t budge.

“Wait,” she turned to the Stormtrooper, who appeared flummoxed that she was addressing him, “why aren’t all the survivors being rescued?”

“Uh...well, you see...ma’am-” the Stormtrooper stumbled over his own tongue.

“Because,” Kylo said, stalking back to where she stood, “it would take far too much time and manpower. I’m not sending any more ships over there. We need ships here, tracking the Resistance.” Kylo’s tone indicated that the conversation was over, but Rey kept pushing.

“They’ll all die slow and painful deaths!” Rey protested.

“It’s a sacrifice they signed up for,” Kylo retorted.

“Oh right, I forgot how much say they had when they were ripped from their families as babies!” Rey was practically screaming, tears forming in her scrunched up eyes.

The Stormtroopers on the flight deck watched the back and forth intensely, as if it was the most riveting podrace they’d ever seen. Kylo became keenly aware of the scrutiny.

“Tell Peavey when Hux gets here that he’s to send a convoy of ships to the Supremacy to scan for the remaining life - forms, and reassign all the survivors to new units,” Kylo spit the words at the unlucky Stormtrooper.

“Yes, sir!” The Stormtroopers saluted and scurried away.

As soon as the Stormtroopers were out of sight, Kylo grabbed Rey’s arm and pulled her across the flight deck and into a hallway. He continued dragging her alongside him, tripping over herself to keep up, until finally she wrestled free of his grasp and rubbed her arm.

“I can walk just fine on my own, thank you,” she huffed at him.

“It seems that you can embarrass me in front of my troops just fine as well,” Kylo shot back, not turning around to look at her as he continued down the hallway.

She rolled her eyes at the back of his head before following deeper into the ship. Rey could feel the anger - directed at her - rolling off his Force signature, so she didn’t follow too closely for fear of accidental bodily harm if he suddenly whipped out his lightsaber and began going to town on a command module.

After several minutes, they stopped in front of a door. Kylo entered his fingerprint and retinal scans and the door slid open. He motioned for Rey to go ahead of him.

She stepped through the threshold and into what must have been Kylo’s personal quarters. It was spacious but had practically no furniture, just a simple couch in the front-most area, a desk and chair over to the right, and the bed behind a partial wall in the back. She could see the ‘fresher door off in the back left corner. Rey fought the impulse to roll her eyes again when she noticed the whole room, top to bottom, was a monochrome shade of black.

The door shut behind her and she turned to see Kylo, silhouetted by the doorway, tall, dark, and positively fuming.

“How could you defy me in front of my troops like that?” Kylo bellowed.

“Aren’t I the Supreme Leader as well?” Rey yelled back. “Aren’t they our troops?”

Kylo Ren was almost derailed by the mention of “our” troops, but he quickly found his footing again.

“They don’t know that yet,” he countered, “and there’s going to have to be an official coronation. Besides,” he continued, “it’s not a very good leadership strategy to argue like petulant children in front of your army!”

Rey was now seeing the error of her ways. Where there was once anger and defiance, there was now only embarrassment and regret. Kylo must have felt it too, because after a beat he walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder, brushing aside a loose strand of hair. Rey had to suppress a shiver at the unexpected contact.

“I’m sorry,” Rey began, trying to hold back tears, “it’s just that they don’t know their families, and I don’t know my family, and whenever I see them I think of Finn-”

Rey stopped short, panic rising in her throat as she gauged Kylo’s reaction to her mention of the “traitor”.

Kylo had stiffened at the adopted name of FN - 2187, but before he reacted, he remembered the anxiety of Rey’s Force signature as she followed him down the hallway. She had been keeping her distance from him because she had been afraid of him and his anger. Immediately Kylo felt a surge of pain course through his veins. He dropped his other hand to her cheek, where he wiped away a stray tear. Kylo sighed. For someone so strong, she cried so easily, and so often. He knew that he was often the cause of her tears, and that only intensified his overwhelming self - hatred.

“Rey,” Kylo murmured, “Rey, I could never hurt you. Not even on accident. The very act would tear me apart from the inside.” Rey gazed up at him through damp lashes. “I promise that I will do whatever I must to ensure your safety at all times, and at all costs.”

It had never been in Kylo’s nature to apologize, even as a small child, so he left his declaration of regret at that. But the tears were rolling freely down Rey’s pretty face now, and he was sure that he had something to do with it, so he reached out desperately for the Force to guide him. When he shifted his arms to pull her to his chest, he was as surprised as she was. What was even more surprising was how quickly she melted into his embrace, grabbing tight around his midsection and holding on for dear life. Kylo wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that. It could have been one second or one million lifetimes, but either way, he knew it would never be long enough.


	3. Chapter 3

The comm on Kylo’s door buzzed, and he decided in that moment that whoever was on the other side was getting run through with his lightsaber. He was getting very tired of interruptions. After squeezing Rey one more time, he let go, and felt very relieved to see that her eyes were dry.

True to his promise, he ignited his lightsaber and stalked toward the door to end the life of whichever unfortunate miscreant had interrupted his slice of paradise.

When the door slid open to reveal General Hux, Kylo groaned inwardly. The politically savvy voice in his head reminded him that Hux was probably the one person in the entirety of the First Order to whom he couldn’t deliver an untimely demise. Without turning off his lightsaber, Kylo turned on his heel and stalked back into his quarters.

“What, Hux?” Kylo growled.

Hux seemed to have taken this as an invitation to enter, and strode through the room to stand in front of Kylo with an alarming amount of confidence given that Kylo was still brandishing the crackling kyber crystal.

“Supreme Leaders,” Hux glanced disapprovingly at Rey, “the Supremacy has been evacuated of all survivors and we’ve called a meeting with the command team tonight to discuss a path forward. In the meantime, the Knights of Ren have returned and are requesting an audience with their Master.”

Hux looked rather disgruntled as he relayed the news about the Knights of Ren. It was no secret that Hux hated the Knights; he didn’t understand the preferential treatment afforded to them by Snoke, and he despised the way they stalked about the First Order ships, whispering in tongues about the Force. As a general, however, Hux admired their warrior prowess, and secretly wished to command them along with his army. Instead, they got sent off on cryptic missions by Snoke to quadrants unknown, wasting the destructive potential they could have on Hux’s battlefield.

At the mention of his Knights, Kylo glanced at Rey, and then responded, “Fine. Tell the Knights I’ll meet them at the usual place shortly.”

Kylo meant this as a dismissal, but then Hux opened his stupid mouth and replied, “Ren, if I may, the other officers may not take kindly to a Jedi presence at the command meeting tonight. Do see that you make her look more like one of us, for her own sake.”

Kylo was rather taken aback. Had Hux just given him a command? Or had Hux just given him invaluable advice disguised as a bossy command? Kylo looked at Rey. She was grimy and sweaty, the dried blood from her battle wounds matting her hair and staining her clothes. Clothes, Kylo realized, of a Jedi, that had undoubtedly come from whatever hole Luke Skywalker had hid in after the destruction of the Temple. Considering it was actually rather good counsel, Kylo decided to ignore Hux’s insolence this time. 

“Anything else, Hux?” Kylo asked brusquely.

“That is all, Supreme Leaders.”

Once the door had closed behind Hux, Kylo flicked off the lightsaber and clipped it back onto his belt. He fought the urge to rub his face with his gloved hands, and instead walked over to the comm and spoke into it.

“Bring extra Knight robes to my quarters immediately. In the smallest size,” he added, looking back at Rey.

Rey looked a little embarrassed at all the attention afforded to her appearance. Before she could express her displeasure at having to play dress up, however, Kylo moved to stand in front of her, and taking one of her bare hands in his gloved one, he told her, “It’s only temporary. Tonight our job will be convincing the First Order that you really have turned to our cause, and that the First Order will be stronger with you at the helm. Once they’ve seen your unbridled power, you’ll be able to do, wear, and be whatever you want.”

At the mention of her newfound strength, Rey smiled. “I want to learn more about the dark side. Could I train with the Knights of Ren?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not discussing this with you. Get cleaned up and dressed. I’ll be back later.”

And with that, Kylo stormed out of the room.

***

Rey wasn’t sure what she had done to upset Kylo. His sudden change of temperament reminded her that he was volatile and unpredictable, regardless of how mild mannered and calm he had been just a few moments ago. To her, it made perfect sense to train with the Knights. She was woefully ignorant of the knowledge of the Force, and she needed a proper teacher, not Luke Skywalker admonishing her for even entertaining the idea of the dark side. Thinking back to their battle on Starkiller Base, Rey was reminded of the promise Kylo had made her.

You need a teacher. I can show you the ways of the Force.

Maybe Kylo wanted to train her. Fine. She definitely wasn’t calling him ‘Master’, though, that was for sure.

The name Rey really wanted to call Kylo was Ben, but she knew he would never allow it. He would see the dead name as her hesitation to commit herself wholly to his adopted persona in the dark side. She didn’t want him to know there was conflict still brewing within her, for fear that he would abandon her. Still, she had shipped herself to the Supremacy to save Ben Solo, and had found herself instead staring down the prospect of ruling an entire galaxy at Kylo Ren’s side. She wasn’t sure she had made the right choice.

A housekeeping droid buzzed into the room and interrupted her pondering. She took the clothes from the droid with a word of thanks and walked toward the ‘fresher. Rey had a job to do, even if it was just to make it through the night alive, so she mentally prepared herself to assume the role of repentant Jedi turned Supreme Leader.

But hadn’t she stayed with Ben so she could stop playing a role? She thought he would allow her to be just Rey, and instead she was preparing to go into political battle against the First Order’s finest generals and admirals. How much different was this from being the last Jedi of Leia Organa’s Resistance?

It’s only temporary, Kylo had promised her. She certainly hoped so.

Rey closed the door to the ‘fresher and peeled off her tunic and leggings and sent them down the laundry chute. She had initially planned on throwing the whole ensemble in the garbage, but when the time came, she couldn’t bear to part with the last physical reminder of her old life. If the clothes were lost or discarded in the laundry, so be it, but at least she hadn’t disposed off them herself. Her underthings she sent straight into the garbage, however, as they were worn beyond repair, and she couldn’t really admit to having an emotional attachment to her breast band.

It had been a long time since Rey had a proper shower, and took her time washing her hair and body, allowing the hot water to work out all the aches and pains in her sore muscles. As she washed the shampoo from her scalp she realized, idly, that she would smell like Kylo. She smiled despite herself at the thought.

Without warning, Rey felt the crackling electricity and energy of the Force surround her, and suddenly Kylo Ren was standing in front of her, as real as if she had invited him into the shower with her.

For a split second, they stared at each other, Rey naked and panicking, and Kylo sweating, chest heaving in exertion, before Rey screamed and Kylo moved to cover his eyes.

As quickly as he had appeared, Kylo disappeared, and Rey was alone. She finished in the shower and dressed quickly, eager to avoid another unexpected unclothed interaction. As she pulled the robes of the Knights of Ren over her head, Rey had calmed herself down enough to realize the gravity of what had just happened.

Snoke had lied about the Force bond.

***

After Kylo had stormed out of his quarters, leaving a very confused and slightly hurt Rey behind him, he felt a twinge of guilt for snapping at her. Jealousy had clouded his judgement and caused him to lash out. The thought of anyone other than him training with Rey was enough to send him into a blind fury. He reluctantly admitted that it had stung when she rejected his proposal to be her teacher on Starkiller Base, and hearing her ask to train with his Knights had reopened a mostly closed wound.

Rey occupied his thoughts all the way from his quarters to the Knights of Ren training room, where, as he expected, his six Knights were waiting for him. Masked and armed, the Knights of Ren were fearsome Force wielders, and loyal to Kylo alone after he slayed their previous Master. Upon his entry, all six knelt briefly in reverence, before rising and removing their masks. The masks were meant to intimidate their enemies, and served no purpose here, among allies.

“We have much to discuss,” Kylo began, “for as I am sure you felt through the Force, Snoke is dead.”

This elicited no reaction from his followers, confirming that they had known of the Supreme Leader’s death long before stepping foot on the Finalizer. It was the reason they were back, after all.

Kylo continued, “I will not lie to you, my brother Knights, as I have lied to the First Order peacocks who boast endlessly of their borrowed power. Snoke asked me to -”

But before he could finish, he was interrupted by the boldest of his Knights, Vicrul.

“Master,” the warrior began, “we are loyal to you and you alone. You need not explain yourself to us. We trust your judgement in ending Snoke. Besides,” Vicrul added, viciously, “I’m glad he’s dead. I never liked him anyway.”

The other five murmured their agreement. Kylo let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. With all the power of the Force surrounding the Knights of Ren, it was difficult to keep secrets from one another. It was not impossible, of course, for those stronger with the Force, but it required a considerable amount of mental energy, and he had more pressing things to conceal from the minds of his Knights. Therefore, he had decided to tell them the truth - Snoke asked him to kill Rey, but instead, he turned the blade on his former Master. It was a relief knowing he didn’t have to explain himself, so he moved on to his next topic of discussion, but before he could open his mouth, Ushar spoke excitedly.

“Master, we have sensed the presence of the Jedi scavenger. Have you taken her prisoner? What are your plans for her?” Ushar could barely contain his glee as he fingered his war club.

“No,” Kylo snapped, “she’s not our prisoner. She gave herself over to the dark side. She’ll serve alongside me, as Supreme Leader.”

“Will she become a Knight?” Cardo asked. “We’ve never had a female Knight.”

“No,” Kylo repeated angrily, “she’s not going to become a Knight. Not yet.” Why did everyone keep asking him that? “If she wants to train, she’ll train with me, otherwise, she can focus on her duties as Supreme Leader. Afford her the same respect you do me.”

The Knights did not look satisfied with Kylo’s explanation, but they dropped the issue nonetheless.

“Master,” Trudgen said, “would you like to spar with us? We were about to begin before you joined us.”

“Yes,” Kylo answered graciously, and Knights moved to grab their practice weapons. Kylo set aside his lightsaber and instead picked up a staff - Rey’s weapon of choice. If his Knights noticed, they didn’t show it, and instead circled around their Master, waiting for him to make his first move.

They always trained like this, all of the Knights against their one Master. Even six against one was no match for the grandson of Darth Vader, and when they began to spar, Kylo held his own easily, even with an unfamiliar weapon. Kylo delighted in the crash of weapons and flurry of bodies as he staved off attack after attack. This was where he felt most like himself - where he could empty his mind of conflict and turmoil and allow the Force to guide his actions.

He was so engrossed in his training that he almost didn’t notice the Force filling the room around him until his surroundings disappeared and were replaced with Rey. Just Rey.  
Rey, who was dripping water onto the floor of the training room, was standing before him, completely naked. Her eyes were wide and she was frozen in shock. It only took a second of him gaping at her beauty before he realized that this was not, in fact, another one of his dreams, and Kylo closed his eyes and moved to cover his face as she let out a terrified shriek. He would not lust after her in this moment when she had clearly not intended to reveal herself to him. It was bad enough that his dreams disrespected her (although he had seen now that his dreams had not done her any justice); he wouldn’t further her discomfort now.

As he closed his eyes, he felt a sharp blow hit him in the head, and another in the side, and suddenly he was lying flat on his back in the training room, his amused Knights standing over him, and Rey nowhere to be found. He rubbed the painful lump on his head and moaned.

“Our Master is distracted,” Ap’lek joked, a smile gracing his scarred lips, “perhaps we should kill him now, while we have the chance.”

The Knights laughed and pushed each other around while Kuruk bent over to help Kylo up. “Are you quite alright, Master? I’ve never seen you distracted like that before.”

“Yes, I’m fine,” Kylo groaned, “I suppose I deserved it. You’re all dismissed,” he called to his Knights.

As the Knights filed out of the training room to go boil live porgs, or whatever it was they did in their free time, Kylo stood there contemplating the events that had transpired. It was then that he realized with a jolt the full implications of Rey appearing like a vision in his training room.

Snoke had lied about the Force bond.

***

Rey was sitting at Kylo’s desk, reading a report on a trade dispute, when Kylo burst through the door. He stopped just inside the threshold and stared at Rey. She stood up, and said, without preamble, “What’s happening?”

Rey watched as relief flooded Kylo’s face. Perhaps he had thought she would be mad at him. She was embarrassed, yes, but not mad. They established long ago that the Force bond was uncontrollable. It would be unfair of her to be mad at him for something he had no power over.

“I don’t know,” Kylo admitted, sinking into the couch by the door. Rey chose to remain standing at the desk.

“I had thought the Force bond would die with Snoke,” Kylo continued, “if he was the one who created it, but it seems now that he was lying to us.”

“That still doesn’t explain why it’s happening,” Rey added, “or what it means.”

“I know,” Kylo said frustratedly, “I keep wondering if perhaps I read something about it in my training at the Jedi Temple, but it was so long ago, I’m having a hard time remembering.”

Rey was surprised at Kylo’s willingness to speak freely about Luke’s Jedi academy, but said nothing of it, not wishing to make him uncomfortable.

“I read the same texts when I was with Luke,” Rey said, being very careful not to mention where she was with Luke, “and I didn’t see anything about this at all.”

“Once the First Order hunts down the Resistance, we should solve this mystery. I have a few systems in mind that may be able to help us.” Kylo stared contemplatively off into space.

“Until then,” he continued, “I’ll check the archives of the Empire. The New Republic destroyed most of the Empire’s files and documents, but some loyalists were able to save key texts. The answers we seek may be there.”

Rey nodded and turned back to the report on the desk. Whenever Kylo mentioned the end of the Resistance, she felt hollow inside. Her sadness only intensified when Kylo cleared his throat and said, “Tonight, they’re going to expect you to give them information regarding the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker and the Resistance.”

“I don’t know where they are.” Rey said immediately.

Kylo looked at her, visibly annoyed.

“I’m serious. When I left the Resistance, they were still on D’Qar. I don’t know where they were headed after that.”

Unbeknownst to Kylo, however, hidden deep beneath her robes, was a Resistance homing beacon. Leia had given it to her before Rey left to find Luke. Rey knew it was dangerous and reckless to keep the homing beacon on her, but she selfishly wanted a way to return to the Resistance, her first real home, if they would ever dare to have her back. She knew they would never come looking for her. Luke and Leia had undoubtedly felt through the Force the moment she willingly took Kylo Ren’s hand. She also knew that once the First Order had broadcast the conversion of the last Jedi to their cause, the Resistance might never welcome her back, and she wouldn’t blame them. Rey knew the choice she had made was final. Logically, the best way to protect her former friends was to stomp on the homing beacon until it was broken beyond repair. 

What she didn’t want to admit to herself was that, despite everything they had been through, and everything they had promised to each other, she still did not completely trust Kylo Ren.

Kylo didn’t help the matter by saying, “Well, you know where Skywalker is. You can at least tell them that.”

“I’m not giving them anything.” Rey replied stubbornly. “Do they even know I was with Luke Skywalker?”

Kylo thought about that for a second. “No, they shouldn’t, but they at least know you’ve seen the map.”

“I’m going to lie.”

“Fine, then, lie!” Kylo yelled. “But if they find out you lied to them and are to execute you for committing treason, don’t come running to me! I won’t be able to save you.”

Rey felt herself begin to cry for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. She turned away as the tears fell, hot and fast, down her face. Kylo sighed.

“Tell them you showed me the map, and that once the transition period is over, the Knights of Ren and myself will end the Jedi Order for good.”

Rey turned and nodded through her tears. The conflict within her was so overwhelming, it was making her physically ill. Whereas she had been so certain just minutes ago, she was now lost and confused. She hated herself for her weakness. She wished that she could tell Kylo the truth, that Luke was on Ahch - To, removed from the Force for years, unarmed and unafraid to die. Rey’s anger and disgust at herself boiled until it was all consuming.

“It’s okay to feel conflicted.”

Rey stared in disbelief at Kylo’s admission. He continued, “I still feel conflicted from time to time. It’s been less, since you joined me here, but still...the conflict doesn’t make you weak. Our choices make us weak, but you didn’t choose the conflict. How you address the conflict, however, that’s what makes you weak - or strong.”

Rey couldn’t believe what she was hearing. For the first time since they boarded the Finalizer, she was listening to the voice of Ben Solo. She realized that her mouth was hanging open in shock, and she closed it abruptly.

“You chose to be here with me, and for that I will be eternally grateful. If you never doubted your choice, I would think you were a droid, not a humanoid. Snoke told me that my conflict made me weak, but in the end, it was my conflicted feelings about him that made me strong enough to kill him, strong enough to break the chains he held on me. That’s all I want for you, Rey. Not to be free of the conflict, but to be free to make your own choices. Eventually I have to hunt down and kill Skywalker, but I won’t make you participate until you choose that path yourself.”

Rey was so overwhelmed she was crying even harder than before, and ran straight into Ben’s arms, catching him so off guard that he almost fell over. Ben’s promise reminded her of why she chose him. He was the only being in the entire galaxy who truly understood how it felt to be embroiled in the middle of such painful conflict and the only one who understood how hard it was to feel free when all the choices had already been made for you.

Ben patted the top of Rey’s head awkwardly, clearly outside his comfort zone. Rey wiped away her tears and sniffled, before stepping back and smiling at him.

“I’m sorry that I can’t make that choice today. You deserve to know, and I promise that-”

“Rey, today you chose me, and that’s more than I ever thought possible. I understand if you need a lifetime to make a choice about Skywalker. Just please know that my choice has been made, and I’ll continue down that path with or without your help.

“But now,” the voice of Kylo Ren was back, “we have some convincing to do.”

As she let Kylo lead her out of his quarters and into the hallway, Rey felt the homing beacon press hard into the skin of her chest, and couldn’t help thinking that she had every reason in the galaxy to trust Kylo Ren.

Rey wished the same could be said about her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was very First Order/Reylo focused, so stay tuned for the next chapter, which will (spoiler alert!) juxtapose the politics of the First Order with the politics of the Resistance. I've had so much fun writing this fic and I'm so happy to be sharing it with all of you :)  
> Finally, a huge s/o to my SO, who has been unofficially beta'ing for me and has been providing some much needed feedback and confidence boosts. I love you.


	4. Chapter 4

The Resistance was abuzz with excitement as the Millennium Falcon approached Ajan Kloss. The general’s declaration of the fabled Luke Skywalker’s return had piqued the interest of every rebel. Two droids in particular were buzzing with anticipation.

“I do hope Master Luke recognizes me!” C-3PO worried.

R2 - D2 chirped happily.

“What do you mean I ‘look old’?” C-3PO said indignantly.

In the cockpit, Poe, Finn, and Chewbacca were discussing their lost friend.

“I just don’t believe Rey turned,” Finn repeated for the hundredth time, “Ren must have captured her. She’s probably in danger.”

“The general said that she felt Rey’s allegiance shift in the Force.” Poe replied dejectedly.

“The general could be wrong!” Finn whispered, clearly agitated.

Chewie roared in disagreement.

“Okay, okay, sorry. The general is never wrong,” Finn amended quickly, “but she could be mistaken.”

Poe looked at his friend sadly. “How could she be mistaken, Finn? She said Luke felt it too. That’s why he came back.”

“I know Rey!” Finn said stubbornly.

“Do you really, though?” Poe asked fiercely. “How long have you known Rey for? A week? And half that time she was with Skywalker. You have no idea what happened there. Is it really so crazy to believe that Ren convinced her to join him?”

Chewie verbalized his agreement.

Finn fell silent. Poe immediately felt bad for being so harsh on his friend. The truth was, he didn’t want to believe Rey had abandoned them any more than Finn or Chewie did. But 

Poe recognized that the Resistance had a job to do, and that job wasn’t grieving for another lost Jedi. Poe had seen the toll Ren’s betrayal had taken on Leia. However strong and confident Leia appeared outwardly, Poe knew her son occupied her thoughts, and Poe refused to subject himself to the same pain. Pining over someone who chose power over their family and friends only resulted in agony. Poe didn’t want that burden for himself or Finn.

Poe put his arm around Finn’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Finn.”

Finn said nothing. Poe sighed and rubbed circles on Finn’s back silently.

Then he heard Leia clearing her throat.

Poe jumped up, red in the face. “Yes, general?”

Leia smiled so rarely these days, but she spared one for Poe, her all - knowing smirk causing his ears to turn the same shade of red as his cheeks. Finn hadn’t moved when Leia entered, too consumed by his own misery to even notice her presence.

“We’ll be making planetfall shortly,” Leia informed Poe, “and when we land, I need you to oversee the setup of equipment and assess the utility of Ajan Kloss as a long term base. For right now, it looks like we’ll all be camping out on the Falcon, but we’ll be needing a more permanent solution quickly. I have some unfinished business to attend to.”

“Yes, general.”

Leia motioned for Poe to come closer, and as he leaned down, she whispered, “Don’t be too harsh on him, Poe. He needs you right now.”  
Poe nodded wordlessly. Leia grasped his hands in hers momentarily and exited the cockpit.

***

Kylo paused Rey just outside of the door to the room which, she assumed, would house their meeting with the First Order brass. He stared at the floor for a moment before speaking.

“Rey,” he whispered urgently, “you must convince the First Order that you’re loyal to them and them alone. I can only protect you so much. Without the backing of the military, you and I are as good as dead.”

Rey gulped. The fear in Kylo’s eyes struck a chord deep within her. She could feel the homing beacon burning a hole through her robes, threatening to reveal her secret at any moment. He reached out and held her cheek in his gloved palm.

“They’re going to ask you difficult questions. I’ll deflect as many of them as I can, but at some point, you’re going to have to either tell them where Skywalker and the Resistance are, or stick to the lie. You won’t be able to avoid giving an answer for long.”

Rey nodded in agreement. Her mind was made up.

“You know what you have to do. You know.”

“I do.”

With that, Kylo swept authoritatively into the room, Rey following close on his heels.

Upon first glance, the room was fairly normal, rather what one would expect from a meeting of the highest ranking military officials in an authoritarian government. Seven or eight impeccably groomed First Order generals and admirals were seated on either ends of a long table. Rey recognized Hux, who was staring daggers across the table at an aging officer. When Rey reached out with the Force, however, she found turmoil, confusion, and anger radiating off every Force signature in the room. Hux had informed them all of Snoke’s death and Rey’s defection, and it was very clear that none of them had taken kindly to the news.

When Kylo stepped into the room, every officer stood, and a chorus of “Supreme Leader” rang out from the group. Kylo motioned lazily and they returned to their seats. Kylo had chosen to remain standing, however, so Rey did as well, taking her place by his right elbow. The atmosphere of the room tensed as each party waited for the other to speak.  
Finally, Hux cleared his throat and addressed the room.

“Supreme Leader Ren, I believe that some of my colleagues,” he shot another disdainful glance across the table, “would like to hear the story of the former Supreme Leader’s death from your perspective, as you were...present.”

Interesting, Rey thought. So the other officers either didn’t believe Hux, or they didn’t believe Kylo, who seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Rey.

“Tell me the story you told, Hux. I’ll assess its accuracy,” Kylo said coldly.

As if from rote memorization, Hux spit out, “Supreme Leader Snoke ordered a ceasefire on the retreating Resistance escape craft, so you and the reformed Jedi killed him. He was a traitor to the cause, elongating the existence of the rebel scum to keep our ambitions at bay.”

Kylo didn’t answer at first. Rey could tell he was judging the reaction of each individual before responding to the lie.

“The death of Snoke was...regrettable, but necessary. I will crush any worlds that dare to defy us. You need not worry about the Resistance much longer.”

***

Luke Skywalker watched as the Millennium Falcon landed on Ajan Kloss. He tried to calm his cacophony of emotions as his reunion with his twin sister grew nearer. Luke had no idea how Leia would react to seeing him after all these years, and after his betrayal, he wouldn’t blame her if she slapped him. He single - mindedly blamed himself for his family’s destruction. First, he killed Ben Solo, now Han was gone too, and all because of Luke’s terrible moment of weakness.

The hatch to the Falcon opened and Luke watched as his sister emerged slowly, a gaggle of young fighters crowding behind her, talking excitedly amongst themselves as they pointed and stared at Luke, who was momentarily reminded of why he chose a life of exile. It was difficult being a legend, especially when reality very rarely lived up to the expectations. He wished, sometimes, that the man, Luke Skywalker, was as good as the myth, Luke Skywalker.

The first thing Luke noticed was how tired Leia looked. She was still wearing the Alderranian mourning braids, and she was every bit as beautiful as she was in that hologram all those years ago. He watched as Leia motioned to a young pilot, who grabbed the rebels’ attention and began ordering them about, setting up temporary star - charts and command modules on the forest floor surrounding the Falcon. Luke smiled despite himself. Leia always did have a soft spot for flyboys.

Luke walked forward to meet his sister, and when they were only feet apart, he hesitated, unsure of how to proceed. Leia, always the brave one, closed the gap with a hug, and he kissed her forehead gratefully. When they broke apart, Leia looped her own arm through his, and together they walked away from the hubbub of the Falcon and toward the peace of the forest.

***

Rey felt, in a strange way, like she knew the Kylo Ren engaging his officers in this political battle of wits. It was as though she had watched these tactical maneuvers performed before, but by someone else, and she just couldn’t think of whom. She was impressed, and slightly intimidated, knowing that she could never engage these murderous snakes with such poise. Decorum was not a word she associated with Kylo Ren, but compared to his usual hot - headed self, the current Kylo was positively charming.

“What is the status on the Fortitude?” Kylo asked.

“Sir, the Fortitude is intact, and received a large number of Stormtroopers from the Supremacy.” Rey was having an issue keeping track of all the wrinkly, white haired, old people seated around the table, but this one she recognized. General Pryde had been on the receiving end of all Hux’s death stares, and Rey was overwhelmingly curious as to why.

“Has the Navy Yard been notified of our need for increased production?” Kylo was firing off question after question, but his officers were keeping up admirably. They were clearly well prepared. This observation did not comfort Rey.

“Yes, sir,” Hux was speaking now, “they estimate a new Resurgence - class destroyer could be ready in as little as a week.”

A week? That sounded impossible to Rey. She wondered how hard the crews at the Yard were working, and if they were being compensated fairly. Not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to herself, Rey made a mental note to confront Kylo about it when the meeting was over. 

The meeting continued in the same fashion for several minutes, and Rey found herself zoning out. She didn’t care much for politics. She supposed that was a poor quality in a Supreme Leader, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care. Instead, she let her mind wander, back to the bed in Kylo’s room. She imagined curling up next to him on the mattress, chests heaving and sweaty from a passionate tryst between sheets, stealing kisses as they - 

“Rey.”

Rey was transported back to reality at lightspeed. Kylo was looking at her critically. Even with the scar, he was still quite handsome. After a moment, he turned away from her, and said,

“If you could repeat your question, General Pryde.”

“Sir, how did the young Jedi come to be in the First Order’s possession, and what will her role be now?”

Kylo nodded imperceptibly at her. Rey took a deep breath, and opened her mouth to answer.

***  
Darkness was falling quickly on Ajan Kloss. It had taken an alarmingly short amount of time to unload their very little salvaged equipment from Crait and the Raddus, and once Poe had been satisfied with their handiwork, he sent the few remaining Resistance fighters off to scavenge the terrain for foodstuffs. The Falcon had a small stash of space rations, but it wouldn’t last the Resistance more than two or three days. Poe hoped they would be receiving a shipment of supplies from one of General Organa’s wealthier sympathizers soon.

Poe was sitting on an overturned crate, keeping track of each Resistance soldier as they returned to the Millenium Falcon for the night. He hadn’t spoken to Finn since their little spat earlier in the day, and it saddened him considerably more than he cared to admit. Poe had only known Finn for a week, but he couldn’t deny his growing feelings for his new friend. He got butterflies everytime he thought of Finn; it made him feel like a silly schoolboy. Poe only wished Finn shared his feelings, but it was clear that Finn had eyes only for Rey.

As if conjured by Poe’s thoughts, Finn emerged from the forest with Chewie. Finn had clearly been crying. Chewie was patting the top of Finn’s head affectionately, but it looked more painful than pleasant. Poe stood, and tried to apologize again before he was cut off by Finn trapping him in a tight hug.

“I’m sorry, buddy,” Poe choked out, grasping Finn’s neck with one hand.

Finn pulled away just enough so he could look at Poe, still holding him, and shook his head.

“No, I’m sorry. This has been hard on all of us. Chewie reminded me of that.” Finn smiled at Chewbacca, who roared in agreement.

“I’m not trying to make it harder.” Finn continued. “It’s just so hard to believe she’s gone.”

A voice came from behind them.

“No one’s ever really gone.”

Poe and Finn whipped their heads around. Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa walked arm in arm towards them. Chewbacca shouted with happiness. Finn and Poe quickly let go of each other.

“General Organa! Master Skywalker!” Poe really didn’t know what else to say.

“Luke, this is Finn and Poe,” Leia said, “Finn and Poe, this is my brother, Luke.”

It was rather strange for Poe to hear of the legendary Luke Skywalker being referred to as nothing more than “my brother”.

Luke turned to Poe. “Thank you for taking care of Leia while I’ve been gone.”

Poe was speechless, and could do nothing but stand there gaping like a fish out of water. Luckily, Leia responded for him.

“I don’t need anyone to look after me!”

“That wasn’t what you were saying when we rescued you from the Death Star, Your Worshipfulness.”

Poe was in shock. Here he was, standing in front of the most famous siblings in the galaxy, and they were bickering as if they were five years old. Poe couldn’t believe it.

Finn regained his ability to speak before Poe, and said,

“Master Skywalker, we’re so happy you’re here. The Resistance could use someone like you right now.”

“I’m flattered,” Luke replied, “but I’m not here for the Resistance. That’s Leia’s area of expertise. Always has been, always will be.

“I’m here to help you get your Jedi back.”

***

“Supreme Leader Ren and I had been communicating prior to my decision to reject the flawed teachings of the Jedi and join forces with the First Order.”

Kylo listened with bated breath as Rey explained her situation to his officers. He was closely monitoring the Force signature of the room, ready for a telling shift in mood at any second. Currently, however, the room was just listening, curious about the former Jedi standing before them in borrowed robes. Rey didn’t look or sound like herself, and Kylo wasn’t sure how he felt about it.

“I travelled to the Supremacy to pledge my allegiance to Snoke, but when I arrived, the coward ended the attack on the Resistance, claiming he had everything he needed. Kylo Ren and I decided to kill Snoke then, for his willingness to allow the rebel scum to escape the jaws of certain death.”

“If you don’t mind my asking,” General Pryde said, “why did you abandon the Resistance? How were you so sure you would be well received?”

Kylo sucked in a breath through his teeth. He prayed silently that Rey would not be so foolish as to reveal their Force bond.

“Kylo Ren and I communicated after the destruction of Starkiller Base. He showed me the error in the Resistance’s ways. I was weak and foolish when I joined them; I was a product of my time in the Jakku system. The First Order is the only way to ensure peace in our galaxy. The Resistance was interfering with that goal, and were prolonging the war - for what? So Organa could play hero again?”

Rey laughed mirthlessly. Did Rey just insult his estranged mother in front of every flag officer in the First Order? Kylo was, in a word, floored. If he hadn’t known Rey before, he would have believed unquestioningly every word coming out of her pretty mouth.

“Where was the Resistance when you left them? What can you tell us of their movements?” Peavey asked.

“When I left the Resistance, they were on D’Qar. I spent a few days in the Unknown Regions before defecting to the First Order. Organa thought she was sending me on a mission to recover a copy of the last piece of the map to Skywalker. The original was destroyed on Starkiller Base. She had no idea my true allegiance was with the First Order all along. If Snoke had not been so foolish, I could tell you exactly where the Resistance would be - space dust, floating in the Outer Rim.”

“So you have had no communication with the Resistance since you left D’Qar?” Hux asked.

“No.” Rey lied.

“And you haven’t seen the completed map to Skywalker?”

“No.” Rey lied again.

“Kylo Ren thinks that you would best serve as co - Supreme Leader. Do you agree?”

Rey flashed Kylo another evil, winning smile. If she did it again he was certain he would faint.

“I think you’ll find the Supreme Leader and I have many compatible qualities that would make us suitable to lead together. Don’t you agree, Kylo?”

It took Kylo a second to find his tongue.

“Yes," he answered stupidly.

“This is preposterous!” One of the admirals seated at the end of the table had stood and, in a bout of unearned confidence, was pointing at Rey. “How do we know she’s not a double agent? What if she’s using the Jedi mind trick on us? We can’t trust-”

The officer was cut off abruptly, choking and pulling at his neck. Kylo was surprised. He didn’t remember trying to Force choke the man, but it was all in good fun - the admiral deserved it, anyway.

It took Kylo Ren a moment to realize that beside him, Rey’s hand was raised, and her face was contorted with rage. After a few moments, she released the man, and he fell, sputtering and groveling, onto the floor.

“I find your lack of faith disturbing.”

It was official. Kylo Ren was in love.

With that, Rey turned on her heel and stalked out of the room. Kylo took a moment to shout “Dismissed!” before following her down the hallway.

“Rey. Rey!” Kylo called down the hallway, jogging to catch up. She didn’t stop when he called out to her, so Kylo grabbed her arm and she whipped around. He was surprised to find her smiling.

“How did I do?” Rey whispered conspiratorially. She looked positively gleeful. 

Kylo was shocked. He felt as if he barely knew the woman standing in front of him. Rey was wild eyed and pink cheeked, and her teeth were bared in a terrifying smile. 

“You were phenomenal;” Kylo said, trying to conceal his disbelief, “I think you convinced them you’re worth keeping around, for now at least.”

As they stood, nearly chest to chest, in the hallway of the Finalizer, Kylo felt a slew of unfamiliar emotions shock his system. Rey was stunningly beautiful. Her hair was falling out of her customary three buns, she was drowning in the borrowed robes, and she was looking at him like he was the last drop of water in the Jakku desert. It had pleased him to no end to see her harness the dark side so easily. Kylo had no doubt that Rey would soon surpass him in both skill and power, and he was perfectly fine with that. There was one nagging issue, however, that had plagued him ever since she took his hand on the Supremacy.

He had been attracted to Rey’s light from the very beginning. Her inherent goodness, so unique and special in someone who had suffered such a difficult life, gave her an almost goddess - like status. Rey had been the light to his darkness, his perfect other, and now he feared he was losing that part of her. Kylo felt inexplicable grief for the bit of Rey’s light that died in that conference room today. Suddenly, the age old conflict, dark versus light, rose up in Kylo once more. He pushed it down in disgust. Kylo Ren had everything he wanted - a fleet to command, a galaxy to rule over, and Rey at his side. What more was there to be conflicted about?

“Come on,” Kylo said, and he grabbed Rey’s hand and pulled her down the hallway. They walked in silence until they were back in Kylo’s quarters. He turned to Rey, unsure of how to say what was on his mind.

“I would like you to stay in my quarters tonight. I’ll sleep on the couch,” Kylo added quickly, “but you’ll be safe here. I would be worried about an assassination attempt by a Snoke loyalist.”

Rey looked embarrassed. “No, I’ll sleep on the couch, I’ll fit better anyway-”

“Nonsense,” Kylo replied, secretly relieved that she hadn’t vomited at the prospect of sharing a room with him, “you can use the ‘fresher first.”

Kylo busied himself at his desk, reading the discarded trade dispute document from earlier, while Rey changed into nightclothes. When she emerged, she nodded stiffly at him, and sat on the bed while he headed to get changed. Usually, Kylo just slept in shorts, but tonight he put on pants and a long sleeved shirt, out of respect for Rey.  
Rey was sitting cross legged on the bed, meditating, when Kylo returned to the main living area. Trying not to disturb her, he crept over to the couch, but before he could lie down, he heard Rey say, quietly,

“The bed is big enough for two people. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

“It’s fine, Rey,” Kylo promised, “go to sleep. Tomorrow is another big day.”

He shut the lights off without waiting for a response.

***

A few hours later, Ben Solo woke with a start from a fitful, restless sleep. He had been having a nightmare, but it came to him in flashes - a sandy terrain, crying, screaming, and a ship flying away. Ben hadn’t wanted the ship to go, he remembered; he had felt hopeless and abandoned watching it leave the planet. It was the same hopelessness he had felt as a child every time he watched the Millennium Falcon fly away.

Across the room, he heard Rey crying. It had been her dream, he realized, of the day her parents left her on Jakku. Ben stood, but hesitated, unsure of what to do. 

“Ben?” Rey whispered. “Ben, did you see that? I’m so sorry I don’t know what happened-”

As she spoke, Ben crossed the room in several long strides and sat next to her on the bed. Rey lunged for him, and he caught her in his arms, holding on for dear life as he stroked her hair. He didn’t know how to tell her he understood what it felt like to be abandoned, unwanted, and unloved, so instead of saying anything, he shifted their bodies so they were lying next to each other, her face pressed into his chest, and his chin resting on her forehead.

Ben laid there with Rey until her breathing evened and together they slipped into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, thank you for reading, and feedback is always welcome!  
> I updated the tags to reflect the current nature of the fic. It's no longer 100% canon compliant with any of the ST, but I'm still pulling very heavily from events of TFA and TROS and will be incorporating some details from TROS. No major character deaths and Rey is still Just Rey so no worries there.


	5. Chapter 5

There was a rather annoying buzzing sound interrupting Kylo’s slumber. The incessant irritant grew louder as he slowly came to, and then suddenly Kylo was jolted awake by the wretched sound of Hux’s voice booming through the comm.

“Supreme Leader Ren, we have a meeting in ten minutes to discuss logistics of the coronation, so I suggest you get up and find the scavenger before-”

At the mention of Rey, Kylo’s ears stopped working, and he remembered exactly where he was; in bed, holding Rey, who had been fast asleep a moment ago, but was now trying desperately to untangle herself from his leaden arms so she could jump out of bed, far away from him.

Who was he kidding? She only ever wanted a shoulder to cry on; she didn’t want to be sharing a bed with him. He should have let her cry herself to sleep and then retreated to the couch instead of imposing his disgusting presence upon her. Kylo felt repulsive and embarrassed, and those feelings only intensified when he shifted to get out of bed and felt the strain of his growing arousal against the fabric of his pants.

Rey jumped out of bed and rushed to pull her Knight robes over her head, making herself decent, while Kylo crossed the room, discreetly adjusting his clothes, ready to give Hux hell.

Rey might have looked halfway presentable when he opened the door to reveal Hux fuming on the other side, but Kylo most certainly did not. His hair was wild and unkempt, sleep clouded his eyes, and he knew he was standing awkwardly, but still, the Supreme Leader tried to maintain a shred of dignity as he gave Hux his best death stare.

Hux’s face, however, gave him away, the general's features shifting from frustration and anger to unbridled amusement as he stared openly at Kylo and Rey.

Kylo reached out with the Force and dragged Hux into the room, slamming the door behind him, not wanting any rogue Stormtroopers to glance in from the hallway and catch a bit of the show.

Rey was seated at Kylo’s desk, engrossed in a report from the Outer Rim, not sparing a glance for Kylo or Hux. Her face was flushed pink and she was attempting to flatten her hair into her customary three buns without drawing too much attention to herself. She really was the most beautiful woman in the galaxy. Kylo sighed, and used the Force to push Hux into a sitting position on the couch. Hux was desperately trying, and failing, to maintain a professional composure.

“Give me five minutes,” Kylo snarled, and stalked into the ‘fresher to finish getting ready.

When Kylo disappeared behind the ‘fresher door, Hux looked over at Rey and asked, conversationally,

"Nice night?”

Without sparing Hux a glance, or acknowledging his poorly disguised disrespect, Rey shot back,

“Better than yours.”

And Hux kept his mouth shut until Kylo emerged.

***

“I sure hope this works,” Poe called from the frontmost seat of the tandem X - wing, “otherwise you and I are goners.”

Finn had been rather surprised when Poe eagerly agreed to coordinate a mission to rescue Rey from the First Order with himself and Luke Skywalker. Luke kriffin’ Skywalker. If Phasma could see him now.

After Luke had declared his purpose for returning to the Resistance, he asked Poe and Finn to fly his old X - wing into the belly of the Finalizer, find Rey, and deliver a message to her from the Skywalker twins.

“She’s probably not going to agree to come back with you right away,” Luke had warned, “and that’s okay. Rey just needs to know we’ll never stop fighting for her.”

Finn secretly wondered if they had tried this hard to save Kylo Ren from the clutches of the dark side when he fell. That was a question, however, that Finn wouldn’t dare ask either Luke or Leia even for all the credits in the galaxy, so he kept his thoughts to himself and focused on saving Rey. 

When Luke had shown Poe and Finn the X - wing the Jedi Master had flown from Ahch - To to Ajan Kloss, Poe was as happy as a kid in a candy shop, but the moment was fleeting, and Poe looked at Luke sadly, saying,

“But Master Skywalker, it doesn’t matter if we can get to the Finalizer. Without landing credentials, we’ll never get on the ship itself.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” Luke had replied with a twinkle in his eye, “I think Leia has you covered.”

Leia did, indeed, have them covered. She slipped a medium sized coin into Finn’s hand, which she promised would grant them landing privileges on any First Order spacecraft. Finn badgered her about how she had acquired such a valuable tool, but Leia refused to divulge the truth, just promising that she knew it would work. Eventually, Finn just had to accept that Leia was an extremely well connected general, and he stuck the coin into his breast pocket gratefully.

Before they left, Poe and Finn asked Leia why Luke didn’t come with them. She laughed, a real, joyfilled laugh, and said that Luke had always been prone to foolish antics, and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play drama queen when the moment presented itself. Luke’s purpose on Ajan Kloss, Leia explained, was two fold: rescue Rey, and provide some much needed hope to a Resistance that could be facing its darkest hour.

Now, Poe and Finn were hurtling through space, following the signal on Leia’s homing beacon. If Rey still had its twin on her person, the beacon should lead them right to her. If she didn’t, the mission would suddenly become much more complicated.

Speaking of complicated, Finn’s feelings for Poe had gotten wildly out of control in the last few days. Finn had never felt this way about another person ever before, and the unfamiliarity of it was equal parts frightening and exciting. Finn had no gauge, however, to determine Poe’s own feelings toward him. Stormtroopers weren’t exactly famous for their emotional intelligence.

Finn and Poe held their breath as they approached the Finalizer. Finn handed Poe Leia’s magic coin wordlessly, and watched as Poe jammed the coin into a slot on the command board.

The galaxy froze while they awaited a response. Finally, a message popped up on the transmitter: CLEARED FOR LANDING.

Finn breathed out, relieved, and began planning for phase two of their rescue mission.

Poe and Finn shielded their faces as much as possible as they glided into the Finalizer hangar. It always gave Finn great anxiety to be back on a First Order ship. It felt that he had just narrowly escaped from the Supremacy with his life, and was now back for part two. Apparently part one hadn’t been exciting enough for him.

Two Stormtroopers approached the X - wing from across the flight deck.

“State your identification and business-”

But before the Stormtrooper could finish his sentence, both he and his partner were gunned down with expertly executed blaster shots.

No one noticed Finn and Poe jump out of the X - wing and drag the Stormtroopers’ bodies into a nearby dark hallway.

***

Rey was extraordinarily cranky as she swept down the hallway of the Finalizer after the coronation meeting. The coronation was to take place tomorrow and be broadcast to every known system in the galaxy. Rey was in a deep despair. She knew she would never see her friends again. The homing beacon felt hot and heavy against her chest.

When she had begun to express her discontentment with the timing of the ceremony, Kylo had taken her own hand in his underneath the table, squeezed once lightly, and let go. She knew he had been telling her to pick her battles, but she felt like this was the last battle she actually had a chance at winning. After tomorrow, she was going to be the sole property of the First Order, a public servant to life forms far and wide, and half of the most powerful pairing in the galaxy.

And here she was thinking that she would get to be Just Rey.

After the meeting, Kylo pulled her aside and explained that he was going on a quick training mission with the Knights of Ren. He promised he would be back after just a short time, and begged her to stay in his quarters until he returned. A seamstress was supposed to come by to fit her for the outfit Rey was to wear at the coronation, and when Rey made a face at the prospect of having to wear a dress, Kylo quickly added that he would have a meal delivered as well. This placated her slightly, as she had not eaten in more than a standard day cycle and was famished.

Hux had escorted Rey back to Kylo’s quarters, which did nothing to improve her mood, but before she scanned her fingerprint and retina, Hux cleared his throat, and she turned to face him.

“Supreme Leader,” he began, tentatively, “if I may...there are those in the upper crust of the First Order who do not trust your allegiance to the cause. It would be unwise of you to appear sympathetic to the Resistance in any way.”

Rey didn’t know Hux that well, but she felt that this was wildly uncharacteristic of him. Hux looked uncomfortable with the silence, so Rey summoned her most authoritative voice and replied,

“Thank you, Hux. Your counsel is appreciated. I will keep that in mind. I assure you, however, I am loyal to the First Order alone. That will be abundantly clear tomorrow.”

Hux nodded stiffly and waited until she opened the door to Kylo’s quarters to salute and leave in haste. Rey closed the door behind her and shook her head. What a strange place this was.

Rey glanced to the partition in the back of the room. A housekeeping droid must have made the bed in their absence. Her face burned with shame as she remembered her dark dream from the night before. The Force seemed hell - bent on embarrassing her in front of Kylo. First the shower episode, and now this? She was so mortified when she woke in the morning to find they had fallen asleep together, but she was even more mortified when she realized that she hadn’t slept that well ever in her entire life. Sleeping in Kylo’s arms felt safe, and her body fit perfectly against his, as if they had been made for each other. Her perfect half was a tyrannical murderer. The irony was not lost on Rey at all.

A droid buzzed in, bearing a meal of soup and bread, and she sat on the couch, munching away happily. Rey would never get used to having unlimited access to good, real food, not just space rations, and she burned her tongue in her haste to satiate her hunger.

Rey was working through a mouthful of soup soaked bread when the comm on the door buzzed yet again. She sighed. It was probably the kriffin’ seamstress. She walked across the room, still chewing, and punched the button to open the door. Rey was rather surprised to find two masked Stormtroopers standing on the other side.

“Can I help you?” Rey asked, unsure of what these Stormtroopers wanted. She didn’t imagine Stormtroopers made a habit of calling on Kylo Ren for fun.

“Is Kylo Ren here?” Stormtrooper One asked.

“No, I’m sorry, he’s with the Knights-” Rey began, but she was interrupted by Stormtrooper Two.

“Great,” he said, and with that, both Stormtroopers whipped off their masks, and Rey screamed.

“Rey, shut up!” Finn groaned, pushing her into the room, Poe following close behind.

***

The Knights of Ren were a terrifying presence when assembled in a show of their complete power, with their weapons brandished and their faces hidden. As they stood around a small table in the dimly lit room, it was hard for the Symeong metalsmith to not feel a little uncomfortable. Albrekh had served other unkind customers before, however, so he was used to feeling a little out of place, even in his own workshop.

Albrekh relished the hum of the Sarrassian iron as he molded it to fit two pieces of the broken helmet together. The iron was an angry red, and would remain that way long after the forging was over. It was rather fitting, though, Albrekh supposed, as the man seated across from him was rather angry as well. The Knights called him ‘Master’, and the galaxy was to call him ‘Supreme Leader’, but Albrekh had only ever known the angry man by one name - ‘Jedi Killer’.

So Albrekh set about repairing a mask fit for the killer of the Jedi. When Albrekh finished, he held it out to the Jedi Killer, and the warrior took it in his gloved hands, inspected it briefly, and fit it on his head. Albrekh smiled at the finished product.

Never again would anyone doubt that this man would bring about the end of the Jedi Order for good.

***

“What are you doing?” Rey screamed when Poe closed the door. “If the First Order finds out you’re here, you’ll be executed!”

Finn ignored her, and instead turned to Poe.

“Do you see any cameras in here?”

“No. Besides, I doubt Kylo Ren would allow cameras in his personal quarters.” Poe replied.

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” Rey yelled.

Finally, Poe and Finn turned to look at her. Finn spoke first.

“The Resistance is hurting, Rey. The First Order took out nearly all the escape pods. There’s almost no one left.”

Rey felt her eyes fill with tears.

“I know. I gave the order to stop firing on the fleet.” Rey replied.

“What?” Poe responded, clearly confused.

“Kylo Ren asked me to join him, and I said I would if he let the fleet go.” Rey whispered. That might not have been the whole truth, but how was she supposed to explain that to Finn and Poe? Her life was turning quickly into a series of poorly managed lies, each more deceiving than the last.

Finn sat down next to her and took her hand in his. “Rey, come back with us. Please.”

The conflict was deafening. Rey’s emotions churned like the tumultuous waves of Kef Bir. She was crying freely now.

“Finn, I can’t,” Rey said sadly, “this is my choice.”

“You’re choosing the First Order?” Poe replied angrily.

“No,” Finn said slowly, “she’s choosing him.”

Poe glanced around the room and looked back at Rey, disgusted.

“It’s not like that! You don’t understand!” Rey cried.

The three sat in awkward silence before Rey threw her arms around Finn’s neck and sobbed into his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Finn,” Rey wailed, “I don’t know what to do.”

Despite his anger at the situation they had all found themselves in, Finn held her and stroked her hair, his own emotions incomprehensible as well. After a moment, Finn motioned to Poe, and all three of them embraced for a very long time. When they finally pulled apart, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.

“I don’t know what to do,” Rey admitted to her friends, “but I’m in too deep to leave now. I’m to be made Supreme Leader tomorrow. I’ve been trying to keep as much information from the First Order as possible, but they don’t trust me as far as they can throw me.”

“Let us help you,” Poe said quickly, “we could feed you false information so you can throw the First Order off our tracks.”

“Yes,” Finn replied excitedly, “but we’ll have to give Rey at least a little correct intel, otherwise the First Order will suspect her disloyalty.”

Rey was thrilled to be back with her friends, so relieved they hadn’t given up on her, but she couldn’t shake the creeping feelings of guilt and shame threatening to impede on her happiness. She was betraying Kylo’s trust. He could never find out about this.

“How will I communicate with you without the First Order knowing?” Rey asked.

“I don’t know,” Poe admitted, “but Luke probably has some ideas.”

“You’ve seen Master Skywalker?” Rey asked urgently. “Is he okay?”

“He’s fine,” Finn waved away her concerns, “fit as a fiddle. It was actually his idea to send us to you.”

Rey’s spirit sang.

“Rey,” Finn continued, “Luke felt you fall to the dark side. He came to the Resistance to help Leia send you a message. We’re the messengers.”

At the thought of Leia, Rey’s vision became cloudy again. She hadn’t realized how much she missed her friends at the Resistance until they were standing in front of her. They must have used Leia’s homing beacon to find her. Rey was touched. Never in a million years would she even begin to think that she was worth all this trouble.

Suddenly, she heard two voices right outside the door. One was unmistakably Hux’s, while the other sounded muffled and mechanized. The second voice was rather familiar, but Rey couldn’t place exactly where she had heard it before. She looked at Finn and Poe in alarm.

Finn and Poe glanced at the door and back at each other.

“Do exactly as we say,” Poe commanded, “otherwise this will be a very bad day for all of us.”

With that, Finn pushed Rey so she was kneeling on the ground in front of him. Poe stole the lightsaber clipped to her belt, and both Finn and Poe pointed their blasters at her head. She stared at them in confusion.

“Put your hands up,” Finn commanded, and when Rey didn’t move, he yelled, “PUT YOUR HANDS UP!”

There was no anger in Finn’s pleading eyes, however, only fear and persuasion.

Rey put her hands above her head just as the door slid open and Kylo Ren walked through the door, wearing his old cracked mask.

***

Kylo was startled by the scene he walked in on. Rey was kneeling on the ground, tears streaming down her face with her hands held above her head. The traitor, FN - 2187, and the Resistance pilot, Dameron, were both wearing Stormtrooper armor sans masks and had their blasters pointed at Rey’s face. The pilot was holding Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber.

Kylo unsheathed his own bright red lightsaber and ignited it, ready to decapitate both the traitor and the pilot. Before he could get close enough to do any damage, however, Rey jumped to her feet and ran to stand between him and the rebel scum.

“Kylo, don’t kill them!” Rey pleaded.

“Why shouldn’t I?” Kylo roared in response, his voice warped by the helmet’s modulator. “They were going to kill you!”

“Lock them up, use them as bait for the Resistance, interrogate them, but please, please don’t kill them!”

Kylo gazed at Rey through the slits in his mask. He was glad for the mask now, as it concealed the torrent of conflicted emotions playing across his face. How could she not want them dead? Hadn’t she committed herself fully to the dark side?

A recent memory appeared in Kylo’s brain. He had the opportunity to kill his mother once, but he hadn’t taken it. Perhaps this wasn’t so different. Rey was having a moment of weakness for the only family she had ever known.

Without flicking off his lightsaber, Kylo spoke into his comm.

“Alert Hux that we have valuable prisoners aboard. I’ll escort them to cell block six to await interrogation and execution.”

“Execution!” Rey screamed, and the Resistance scum glanced nervously at each other.

Kylo ignored her, and instead reached out with the Force and took the Skywalker lightsaber from Dameron. “That lightsaber,” he hissed, “belongs to me.”

With another pulse from the Force he knocked the blasters from their hands.

“Come with me,” Kylo ordered, brandishing his lightsaber in the direction of the door.

Finn and Poe had no choice but to follow the masked creature down the hallway, leaving a shocked and hurt Rey still standing in Kylo’s quarters.

It was a long walk from Kylo’s rooms to the cell block. After a few minutes, Kylo spoke.

“She’s never going back.”

“How can you be so sure?” FN - 2187 asked, his voice heavy with disgust.

“The dark side chose her. There’s no coming back from that.”

“Rey isn’t lost!” Dameron insisted.

“Not to me, she isn’t.” Kylo replied simply.

When they got to the cell block, Hux was waiting for them with a squad of Stormtroopers. Hux stepped forward to put handcuffs around Dameron’s wrists, and the ballsy pilot spit in the general’s pasty face. Kylo was begrudgingly impressed at Dameron’s gall. Hux responded by slapping his prisoner across the face, hard.

“If the normal interrogation tactics are not successful, alert me, and I will question them myself,” Kylo ordered, and Hux nodded, the Stormtroopers beginning to drag the prisoners into their cell.

Kylo flicked off his lightsaber and turned to leave, but before he could take a single step down the hallway, Dameron called out to him.

“Hey, asshole!”

Kylo turned slightly.

“Your mom says hi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos and kind words! Things are finally starting to pick up plot wise. I'm trying to get as much writing done before my class starts on Tuesday, so fingers crossed Chapter 6 is ready by the end of the week.


	6. Chapter 6

Rey didn’t know how long she had been staring, dumbfounded, at the closed door when the comm buzzed once again. She was in shock. Finn and Poe risked their lives to deliver her a message from Luke and Leia. What had that message been? What was happening to her friends now? The Finalizer was gigantic, measuring in at nearly 3 kilometers long, and Rey imagined there to be many, many cell blocks scattered throughout the ship. She couldn’t help but feel that all hope was lost.

Rey was still deep in thought when the comm on the door buzzed again, and she snapped out of her worrying long enough to cross the room and open the door. Waiting for her in the hallway was a tall, muscular humanoid woman carrying a stool under one arm and a tape measure wrapped around the other.

“You must be Rey!” the woman exclaimed, and bustled into Kylo’s quarters without invitation. Rey, used to all the formality and regulation of the First Order, found the woman’s lack of professionalism refreshing.

“I’m sorry,” Rey admitted, “I wasn’t expecting anyone.”

“But of course you were!” the woman cried in response. “The Supreme Leader arranged this morning for a seamstress to fit you for the coronation tomorrow! How exciting! Long live the Supreme Leaders!”

Rey’s brief conversation with Kylo following the coronation meeting this morning felt like it was years ago. Had it really only been a few hours? So much had happened, Rey felt almost as if she was a different person now.

“Of course,” Rey smiled apologetically, “I have much on my mind. Forgive me.”

“No problem, dear! I’m Arapai, by the way. If you could just step up here for me…”

Arapai talked loudly and happily of the galaxy’s excitement at the prospect of coronating a new Supreme Leader. It was a secret to most, Arapai explained, both inside and outside the First Order, that Rey would be crowned as well. The seamstress’s babbling allowed Rey to escape back into her own mind. There, she worried for Finn and Poe, and wondered how in the galaxy she would be able to save them from certain torture and death. Rey felt guilt at having deceived Kylo, and wondered where he was. Unless cell block six was on another ship, he should be back by now.

Rey tried to ignore the flash of fear she had felt upon seeing Kylo in his repaired mask. Did even a semblance of Ben Solo still hide behind those angry red cracks?

What was Rey doing? She had gone to the Supremacy with a mission - to rescue Ben Solo. Now it seemed that Ben Solo was more lost than ever. Then she tried to save her friends from destruction at the hands of Kylo Ren, which worked out great, considering both of them were now locked in a cell behind enemy lines.

Rey had already embraced the dark side, turning toward its promises of belonging and peace. Why had she found it so difficult to fully commit herself? She shouldn’t be helping the rebel scum at all; she renounced them and everything for which they stood. Rey should be allowing Kylo to seduce her with the dark side...in more ways than one.

“Rey, do you know about the special First Order technology in the holding cells for prisoners?”

Arapai’s question snapped Rey out of her inappropriate daydream.

“No, I don’t.”

“Here, I’ve got the measurements I need, you can step down. It’s the most remarkable thing,” Arapai continued, gathering up her stool and the measuring tape, “there are unique energy shields that keep binary beacons, among other tracking devices, from working properly inside the cells. Will wonders never cease?”

“Why are you telling me this?” Rey asked, confused and scared.

Arapai gazed thoughtfully at Rey’s face for a brief moment, then she retrieved a small piece of paper from her pocket and placed it into Rey’s hand, whispering,

“You have friends here, young Jedi. May the Force be with you.”

With that, Arapai turned quickly and exited the room, leaving Rey staring in disbelief at the paper in her hand. Rey sighed. Was it really only a little more than a week ago that she had been bargaining at the Niima Outpost with Unkar Plutt? What had her life become?

Rey opened the carefully folded paper and read its contents, scribbled carelessly in Galactic Basic,

CELL BLOCK SIX - DECK NINE - COMPARTMENT DELTA  
TANDEM X WING - HANGAR L

***

When Kylo returned to his quarters, he was exhausted from a particularly rigorous training session with his Knights. He had needed to clear his head from that morning’s events, and his Knights had not been easy on him. For the first time in a long while, Kylo had to stop by the medbay on his way back from the training room. His sparring was distracted and sloppy, and he bore the consequences of his poor form in bright, splotchy bruises and scrapes on his torso, arms, and legs. Wearing his recently refurbished mask had helped, as his face was mostly unblemished, not that it mattered, of course. Kylo wouldn’t be taking his mask off in public ever again. It had been foolish to destroy it in the first place, another poor decision made while he was trapped underneath Snoke’s thumb. There was only one being in the entire galaxy who would from now on have the privilege of seeing his unmasked face.

So when Kylo crossed the threshold and saw only Rey, sitting silently at his desk reading the itinerary for the next day's coronation, he removed his mask and set it on the couch by the door. Rey turned.

“Where are they?”

“You mean the murderers, traitors, and thieves you call friends?”

“Rich, coming from you,” Rey responded haughtily, “isn’t murder one of your specialities?”

Kylo wasn’t exactly sure what he had done to upset Rey. Hadn’t the traitor and Dameron been just about to capture or kill her? Shouldn’t she be thanking him for saving her? She could at least thank him for not running through the two miscreants with his lightsaber.

“Rey,” Kylo said, “they’re traitors and war criminals. They need to be punished in accordance with First Order law.”

“What, so I can become just like you?” Rey was crying again. Kylo hated himself for it. “You killed your father and now the memory haunts your every waking moment! If Finn and Poe die here because of me, I’ll be a monster too.”

“Destroying Han Solo made me stronger in the dark side. You should be the one to execute the traitors.” Kylo’s rage was uncontrollable.

“I would never!” Rey hissed through her tears.

“Then you are weak and foolish. Your compassion for your so-called ‘friends’ will be your downfall.”

“Ben…” Rey was pleading now, the tears cascading down her cheeks.

“Ben Solo is dead! I killed him. I should know,” Kylo snapped back.

Rey’s temperament changed in an instant. She went from crying and pleading to seething and fuming in the blink of an eye. With her newfound anger, Rey screamed in frustration and stuck her hand out. Kylo felt the Skywalker lightsaber break away from its place on his belt and launch itself into her hand. Rey caught and ignited the blade in one step, and she swung at Kylo, fueled by her hatred and rage.

Kylo ducked around her messy attacks until he whipped out his own lightsaber and ignited it, just barely stopping her from slicing his arm clean off. Kylo defended Rey’s untrained offense easily. The Force bond hummed around them, alight with power and energy. 

Rey jumped on the bed, trying to negate the height difference between them. She lobbied a thrust at his abdomen and he deflected immediately, grunting with the effort. Rey yelled again and jumped off the bed, forcing him backwards, and their lightsabers clashed again and again in perfect harmony.

Outside the room, Hux and Peavey were listening to Kylo and Rey grunting with exertion from the other side of the door. 

“Don't tell me...they're not–” Peavey asked, horrified.

“I highly doubt it,” Hux scoffed, “Ren seems about as likely to bed a bantha as he is to bed the scavenger. Not that I see much difference,” Hux laughed.

Then the two officers heard the unmistakable hum of a lightsaber coming from inside the room.

“They must be fighting,” Peavey said.

“If we’re lucky, they’ll kill each other,” Hux responded, “and if we’re unlucky, they’ll just put a hole through the wall.”

Back inside the room, Kylo was sweating, already spent from his training with his Knights. Rey would gain the upper hand after long, and Kylo was seriously worried that in her rage she might just kill him. Rey was beautiful when she was trying to kill him, however, and right now she was every bit as beautiful as she had been in the forest on Starkiller base. Her eyes were wild, her teeth bared, and every shriek and scream sent literal shivers down Kylo’s spine. Rey’s rage was intoxicating, and Kylo drank it in with pleasure.

Kylo blocked another wide swing of his grandfather’s lightsaber. Rey was fast but he was powerful, and he swiped at her with such force that she fell to the ground at his feet. Kylo kicked Rey’s lightsaber out of her hand and placed his own blade close to her neck for only a moment before he switched his lightsaber off and offered her his hand.

The interruption in the battle seemed to ground Rey, and she allowed Kylo to pull her to her feet. She dusted herself off as he summoned the Skywalker saber and handed it to her. She accepted it with a nod of thanks and clipped it to her belt.

“I’m sorry,” Rey apologized meekly, “we shouldn’t be fighting.”

“But we’re so good at it,” Kylo replied flatly, without a hint of amusement in his voice.

Rey stared angrily back at him.

“Besides,” Kylo continued hastily, “that wasn’t fighting. You were just trying to kill me.”

“I wasn’t trying to kill you,” Rey retorted, “but if it happened, I wouldn’t have been upset about it.”

“Neither would I,” Kylo responded, and before Rey could spit out a snappy comeback, Kylo continued, “I’m going to shower in my training room. I’ll take the couch tonight. Don’t wait up for me.”

Kylo grabbed his mask and headed to the door, but before he put the mask on, he looked back at Rey and said,

“Tomorrow is only significant if you and I take the throne together. The Force wills it, as do I.”

With that, Kylo stepped out of his door, only to find Hux and Peavey waiting for him on the other side.

“What?” Kylo growled.

“Did you kill her, sir?” Hux asked.

Kylo ignored Hux and stalked down the hall towards his training room, Hux and Peavey jogging to catch up.

“We’ve heightened security for tomorrow’s coronation, sir, on Chandrila-”

Before Hux could continue, Kylo cut him off

“Why not the Finalizer?”

“Tradition, sir. And continuance. It seemed fitting that where the old Empire died, the New Empire should be reborn. When you are crowned Emperor of the First Order tomorrow…”

Kylo stopped listening. He felt a twinge of guilt at the reminder of what he was keeping from Rey. She had no idea that tomorrow the First Order would become the Empire of the First Order, the New Empire of the galaxy, and he knew that she would be none too pleased when it happened. The truth was, however, that the First Order was already an empire in everything but name. Supreme Leader, Emperor...what was the difference?

Chandrila was significant to Kylo, however, for another reason, and he doubted that fact had escaped Hux. Chandrila was where Ben Solo was born, on the day the Empire surrendered to the New Republic. Kylo decided then that the planet where Ben Solo had been born would be the planet where Ben Solo was to be buried. Kylo had been carrying the dead weight of Ben Solo’s corpse for far too long. It was time to lay him to rest once and for all.

***

Rey pulled up the hood on her robes as she hurried down the hallway of the Finalizer in the early hours of the morning. She searched frantically for Compartment Delta. Luckily, Kylo had remained fast asleep on the couch when Rey snuck out of his quarters, but it had taken her nearly twenty minutes to find Deck Nine, and she didn’t know how long she could be gone before he noticed her absence. The ship was mostly deserted at this hour, which was both comforting and disconcerting. Finally, Rey located Compartment Delta, and slowed as she reached the cell block. The Stormtroopers guarding the entrance were conversing quietly, largely ignoring their sleeping charges.

Finn and Poe looked a little worse for wear, but they were alive, and still wearing the stolen Stormtrooper armor. Finn’s head was resting on Poe’s shoulder. The two looked peaceful, and Rey couldn’t help but smile at her friends. 

Rey turned her attention to the Stormtroopers, and reaching out with the Force, she lulled them both into an instant, dreamless slumber, and they fell, crashing down onto the floor. The ruckus woke Finn and Poe. In one fluid motion, Rey stepped out from her hiding place, grabbed a blaster, and destroyed the cameras in the holding cell.

“Stand back,” she warned Finn and Poe, and she blasted a hole through the lock on the cell. Finn cheered quietly and ran to embrace her. Poe grabbed the other blaster and the Stormtrooper helmets, and handing one to Finn, he said,

“I knew you would come back for us, Rey!”

“Are you alright?” Rey asked nervously. “Did they hurt you?”

“Not enough,” Poe responded proudly, “we didn’t crack. They were sending in Ren in the morning.”

“Lucky I got to you now, then. Listen, we haven’t got much time. The X - wing is in Hangar L. If anyone asks, tell them you’re taking it to be scrapped for parts at the Navy Yard. Follow me.”

“Hangar L, got it.” Poe repeated, and he jammed the Stormtrooper helmet on his head.

Rey started down the hallway, her “Stormtrooper” escorts following close behind. They made it almost all the way to the lift that would take them to the flight deck when Rey heard a voice that made her insides churn. She grabbed Finn and Poe and pulled them into an alcove.

“We’ll need to retrieve Ren soon to interrogate the prisoners,” Hux’s voice said, “the sooner we execute the traitors the better.”

“You said Ren found them trying to kill the girl?” Rey recognized the voice of General Pryde from the command meeting.

“Yes,” Hux replied, “and it’s all a bit fishy to me. First Ren killed Snoke, then he brought along the scavenger as a new Supreme Leader, and now two of the most wanted fugitives in the galaxy show up on our ship? There’s something going on here, mark my words.”

“Perhaps Ren has been seduced,” General Pryde said. He sounded like he was suppressing a laugh.

“Perhaps. Ren has always had a strange soft spot for the girl.”

“You say they’re sharing his bed.”

“It appears so.” Hux sounded disgusted.

Finn and Poe turned their masked heads to look at Rey, and she felt her ears turn bright pink.

General Pryde laughed mirthlessly and replied, “I suppose the Supreme Leader has been thinking with the wrong head as of late.”

Rey buried her face in her hands in embarrassment.

After a few moments, the voices of the generals disappeared down a hallway, and Rey stood, ready to leave the alcove. Finn grabbed her arm first, however, and said,

“You’re sleeping with him?”

“No,” Rey said, “it’s not like that. I’m not sleeping with him.”

“Do you want to sleep with him?” Poe asked.

“Do you want him to rip the Resistance’s location right out of your head? Let’s go!”

Finn and Poe exchanged a look before following Rey down the hall to the lift. When they got in the lift, Finn turned to Rey again, but before he could open his mouth, she said,

“Finn, I’m okay.”

The rest of the lift ride proceeded in silence, and when the doors opened, Finn led the way, being somewhat familiar with the First Order’s ship structure. They hurried down hallway after hallway until they were suddenly spit out at Hangar L. Luke’s old tandem X - wing was waiting for them. The flight bay was mostly deserted, just a few mechanics and service droids repairing minor wounds on gigantic TIE fighters, and no one paid any mind to the two Stormtroopers running across the deck with their cloaked companion.

When the three of them reached the X - wing, Rey stretched out her hands and clasped both of them on the shoulders briefly.

“Good luck. Be safe,” she told her friends.

“Take care of yourself, Rey,” Poe replied, and he began undoing the cables on the ship.

Finn didn’t move, and was looking at Rey with his head cocked to the side. Even though Rey couldn’t see his face, she imagined that Finn’s eyes were dark with hurt. The thought made her soul ache.

“You’re staying here, aren’t you?” Finn asked sadly.

“I’m sorry, Finn,” Rey replied. She didn’t know what else to say.

Poe smacked Finn with the butt of his blaster.

“The message, Finn! Tell Rey the message.”

“Oh yeah,” Finn was momentarily distracted from his sadness, “Luke and Leia say they love you, and they’re not going to give up on you. Take all the time you need.”

Rey was touched.

Finn continued, saying, “They also want you to know that they’ll welcome the both of you home, at any time.”

Rey felt a lump growing in her throat. She threw her arms around Finn and Poe for just a moment.

“If you can feed me information, I’ll throw the First Order off your trail,” she promised, “and try to let me know when you get back to base.”

“We will, Rey.”

“Good luck, Rey.”

“May the force be with you,” Rey whispered, and she watched as her friends boarded the X - wing and sped away from the Finalizer.

As Poe and Finn disappeared into space, Rey felt the panic in her chest growing. She had to get back to Kylo’s quarters. She must have been gone for nearly an hour at this point. He would be waking up soon to interrogate prisoners that were no longer there.

Rey jumped in a lift and punched in the correct deck number. She found herself dodging considerably more officers and Stormtroopers than she had an hour ago. Rey had no idea what time it was, but it had to be getting close to shift change, as people were milling around with cups of steaming caf, yawning and rubbing the sleep from their eyes, while others were packing up datapads and bidding farewell to their colleagues.

Rey was so determined to get back to Kylo’s quarters as quickly as possible that she didn’t notice a group walking quickly towards her until she ran right into one of them and fell, hard, on her backside.

She looked up and felt her breath catch in her throat. The Knights of Ren were masked and armed, all dressed in the same dark robes as Rey, but each member had to be at least a head taller than her, if not more. She would recognize Kylo’s Knights anywhere; they, along with Kylo Ren himself, had plagued her dreams with visions of destruction for years on Jakku. Rey searched for the mask of Kylo Ren among them but did not find it; they must have been on their way to prepare the prisoners for torture at the hands of their Master.  


The Knights stared down at her as they walked past. The last Knight stopped and, in a gesture of what Rey assumed to be pity, offered her his hand to help her up. Rey grasped it and the Knight pulled her up.

“Thank you,” Rey murmured, but the Knight just nodded and walked away, lengthening his stride to catch up to his brothers.

A few short minutes later Rey dropped, exhausted, back into Kylo’s bed. She fell quickly into an uneasy sleep, her dreams wrought with horrible images of gruesome masked warriors and smoking crashed X - wings.

***

The maintenance department on the Finalizer was all too familiar with Kylo Ren’s toddler - like temper tantrums. It seemed that every other day they were dispatching some poor, lowly mechanic to assess the damage Kylo Ren inflicted on an unfortunate command module or data room with his crackling laser sword. This morning, he had destroyed cell block six, from which two Resistance prisoners had escaped the night before. When the mechanic arrived to determine the extent of the devastation, what remained was still smoking, a semi - permanent monument to Kylo Ren’s anger, at least until it was cleaned up.

As she salvaged data pads and warped metal from the wreckage, the mechanic couldn’t help noting that the cell block was in much better shape than many of Kylo Ren’s other rage -fueled messes. Perhaps the prisoners hadn’t been that valuable, she thought, otherwise Ren would have destroyed the entire deck. Then again, the mechanic reminded herself, the rumors around the ship whispered that Kylo Ren could read minds and choke the life out of men without even looking at them.

Perhaps in his clairvoyance, the mechanic thought sarcastically, Kylo Ren had foreseen the escape of the rebel scum.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back! Another s/o to the SO for the wonderful beta'ing. I would be lost without you.  
> The next chapter is a big one (coronation day!) so I'll probably sit with it for longer to make sure it's as perfect as possible. Hopefully looking at Monday or Tuesday for the next update. Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

Kylo had still not yet returned from going to interrogate Finn and Poe. Rey was not at all surprised by this; she imagined that her friends’ unexpected departure had caused quite the commotion, and she was simply grateful no one had come to haul her off to her own cell block in the wake of the discovery.

The chrono on Kylo’s bedside table read 0800 Galactic Standard Time. Rey knew that they were expected to land on Chandrila in just a few short hours and conduct the brief coronation ceremony in what had previously been the Senate Plaza followed by a dinner and a ball in one of the fancier buildings the First Order had built on the planet in recent years.

Rey was slightly peeved at her confinement to Kylo’s quarters, especially once she had seen the magnitude of the ship in her illicit sojourn earlier that morning. A droid had dropped off breakfast a short while ago, but other than that, Rey had been entirely alone since she woke. She took her time showering and dressing, and she had read every single piece of paper sitting on Kylo’s desk, so now there was nothing to do to quell the nerves that were manifesting in the pit of her stomach.

She had widely ignored her growing panic at the prospect of being crowned ruler of the First Order, finding it much more constructive to focus her mind elsewhere rather than face the truth – she was about to partake in a ceremony that would showcase to the whole galaxy that she had turned to the dark side. Rey desperately wished Kylo were with her. She wondered if he was as nervous as she was.

At that moment, the door buzzed, and Hux let himself in. Rey found this rather irritating. Hux was difficult for her to get a read on, even with the Force. At times he was helpful, but other times he seemed to hate her. Right now it seemed that the latter was holding true.

“You,” Hux screamed as he walked right up to her and wagged his finger in his face, “you let the rebel scum escape!”

Rey batted his hand away with chagrin.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Rey lied.

“Ren is convinced you couldn’t have left last night without him knowing but I think you and I both know the truth,” Hux was practically nose to nose with Rey, his eyes burning with contempt, “That you’re rebel scum, you should be executed where you stand, and you have no right ruling over the First Order!”

“What are you talking about?” Rey scoffed, backing up as Hux advanced on her. “I’m loyal to the First Order; I have no love for the Resistance!”

“But you have love for Ren, don’t you?” Hux sneered.

Rey paused. Hux continued with malice oozing out of his every word.

“I know what you think. You think that you can turn him. You think that you can send him running back to his mommy. You think that by sharing his bed he’ll share with you his heart. I see right through you. You’re a fraud and a fool,” Hux was spitting in Rey’s face, clearly overcome with emotion, “and I don’t care that you’re being crowned Empress today. To me, you’ll always be nothing but a filthy scavenger and a sad excuse for a Jedi!”

With that, Hux swept out of the room, leaving Rey quaking in his absence, trying to process the severity of the verbal attack with dignity.

Did he say ‘Empress’?

***

The Finalizer had landed on Chandrila just a few short minutes ago, and Kylo was poised at the landing dock, waiting for Rey to join him so they could get this stupid ceremony over with as quickly as possible. The crossguard lightsaber was clipped to his belt, for both security reasons and as a show of power. Kylo was extraordinarily uncomfortable with the idea of Rey being out in the open, even surrounded by the Knights of Ren and legions of Stormtroopers, for so long, and Kylo would breathe easier when the whole ordeal was finished.

Kylo was dressed simply, in a slightly fancier ensemble indicative of the Knights of Ren robes he wore daily. These ceremonial robes were black with deep red accents - the First Order colors. As Kylo waited impatiently for Rey to make her appearance, he wondered how differently Chandrila would look. He hadn’t been back since he left when he was a young boy to go train with Luke.

His reluctant reminiscing was interrupted suddenly when Rey walked into the deserted hangar followed by the six masked Knights of Ren. Rey was wearing a gown that could be deemed, well, nothing less than sinful. It was black and form fitting, the deep neckline plunging almost to her stomach and revealing a wide expanse of her narrow, freckled torso. Her chestnut colored hair was devoid of its usual three buns in favor of a soft updo that left her collarbones and shoulders bare. The dress was tapered at the waist before flaring out into an elegant skirt, giving the impression of curves that weren’t really there, and the black gown was accented with red lace.

Kylo mouthed a silent prayer to the Maker, thankful for his mask in that moment. That way, Rey couldn’t see the way his eyes raked up her body, stopping briefly on her slight cleavage before resting on her face. Now that Kylo knew what Rey’s body looked like underneath this damned dress, he couldn’t get the image out of his head - no matter how he tried, he kept seeing her in the shower, barely more than just a fleeting memory, and he felt heat rising in his belly as he recalled her pert breasts and toned legs.

Kylo was pulled from his fantasy abruptly when Rey started yelling at him.

“Why did Hux just tell me I’m going to be crowned Empress?” Rey hissed angrily, and Kylo couldn’t help but notice that in this wicked dress, her eyes alight with anger and her teeth bared menacingly, her little hands balled into fists at her sides, she looked rather like a fallen angel from the moons of Iego.

Kylo hadn’t heard a single word she had said.

“Sorry, what?”

The Knights turned their masked heads towards each other behind Rey, exchanging unseen glances. Vicrul actually turned away, his shoulders shaking in silent laughter that was hidden by his mask.

“Why,” Rey was now standing directly in front of him, and Kylo noticed in passing that she seemed a few inches taller than she usually did, “did Hux tell me I’m going to be crowned Empress?”

Kylo sighed, and squeezed his eyes together before continuing, still trying to empty his mind of what it would feel like to press his lips against the skin between Rey’s breasts.

“Hux is an idiot,” Kylo muttered, more to himself than Rey, who reached out and grabbed him by his arm, tugging him down so his masked face was closer to her lips, stained red with some type of cosmetic.

“Empire of the First Order?” Rey asked through her teeth, and Kylo relished the way the skin of his bicep burned with her touch, even under all the layers of clothing.

Kylo heard himself intoning the rhetoric he was to speak to the entire galaxy in just a few moments.

“In order to secure the security and continuing stability, the military regime of the First Order will be reorganized into the Empire of the First Order.”

“You’re joking.”

“I’m not. You must know the First Order is an empire in everything but name. Why hide behind a facade?” The irony of this statement was not lost on Kylo as the words came, distorted, out of his mask. “We destroyed the Senate, the Resistance has been reduced to two dozen soldiers, and today we rule the galaxy with a tougher hand than even Lord Sidious.”

“Seriously, Ben,” Rey implored, and the Knights of Ren stiffened behind her, surprised and agitated at her use of his birth name.

“No,” he hissed through his mask angrily, grabbing her wrist and holding tight, “That name has no place here. If you want to submit to your fantasies in private, and pretend that Ben Solo has not been dead since you were a child, crying yourself to sleep in the sands of Jakku, I won’t stop you. But to the galaxy, and to you, as Empress, I am Kylo Ren and you will address me as such!”

Rey stepped back at Kylo’s outburst. She was biting her lip, and her eyes were brimmed with tears. She folded her hands primly in front of her.

Kylo recognized a victory when he saw it, but this certainly didn’t feel like one.

Without a word to Rey or his Knights, he turned on his heel and made his way out to fulfill his destiny.

***

The entirety of the Resistance was gathered around the holocaster salvaged from Crait, Finn and Poe standing right in front, staring at the screen with rapt attention, as if focusing all their concentration on the small device would stop the events unfolding in front of their very eyes. Before Finn and Poe returned, nearly crashing the X-wing in their effort to get back to the Resistance in one piece, Leia and Luke had broken the news of Rey to the Resistance. It didn’t make watching the holocast any easier, though. The young mechanic, Rose, was staring blankly ahead, tears streaming down her face, and Connix was biting her lip with such intensity that a single drop of blood had stained her front tooth red. 

Rey was standing next to Kylo Ren, her arms hanging limply at her side, while Kylo spoke of the dawn of a New Empire and declared himself ‘Emperor’ in practically the same breath. This surprised Leia. Ben had never been a talkative child, even as a toddler. While most children babbled happy nonsense in an attempt to communicate their emotions, Ben had remained mostly quiet, only speaking when spoken to or when in need of something. He had always seemed wise beyond his years, too contemplative for a baby, and Leia mourned his early loss of innocence as she stared at the masked face of her son on the screen.

Her son, who had killed his father barely more than a fortnight ago.

Finn broke the silence to comfort the crying Rose, telling her, “Rey saved us, Rose, she’s not lost, it’s going to be okay, there’s still hope-”

“Really?” Rose choked out between sobs. “It doesn’t feel like it!”

Rose covered her face and ran back to the Falcon. Connix shot Finn a dirty look before following after her crying friend.

Leia had been surprised at the Resistance’s emotional reaction to Rey joining forces with the First Order. Most of her troops had known Rey for only a few days, and some of them had never met her at all. They had only heard stories of her lightsaber duel with Kylo Ren on Starkiller Base, and knew that she had left to train with Master Jedi Luke Skywalker. Even if Leia had been surprised at the emotional toll Rey’s choice had taken on her fighters, Leia understood it. The Resistance, save Rey’s close friends, didn’t mourn Rey in particular. They mourned the loss of what she represented - a powerful ally in the Force, something the First Order had that the Republic and Resistance had not. In their eyes, Rey put them on an even playing field. They now had someone who could go toe to toe with Kylo Ren and win - an invaluable spark of hope if Leia had ever seen one.

This was the importance of Luke now, although his presence served as a painful reminder of his purpose. Most of the Resistance fighters were still not used to seeing Luke in the flesh and blood - they knew Luke Skywalker as a myth, and were both skeptical and in awe of this living legend. She knew that some of them still harbored resentment that it took them losing their young Jedi for Luke to find his way to them.

“And to rule alongside me,” Kylo was introducing Rey to the galaxy, “Empress Rey of the Western Regions, the converted Jedi of the terrorizing Resistance. She is a champion of…”

Luke leaned over to whisper in Leia’s ear, interrupting whatever lies Kylo was spinning about Rey.

“None of this is very original, is it?”

“What do you mean?” Leia muttered out of the corner of her mouth, her eyes still trained on the mask of Kylo Ren, as if her stare could burn a hole through the red cracks and allow her to gaze upon the face of her son.

“We’re sitting in a rebel base on a jungle moon preparing to wage war against an evil empire. I feel like we’ve done this before.”

Leia peeled her eyes away to stare incredulously at Luke. Trust her brother to be making jokes at a time like this.

“Yeah, well,” Leia grinned sardonically, “at least neither of them share your last name.”

***

Rey had suffered through the coronation ceremony with as much dignity as possible, especially when she knelt before Kylo to pledge her loyalty to the First Order and publicly renounce the Resistance. He had placed a small tiara on her head, wrought of the same iron as his ugly mask, and it still rested on her head now, as she sat around a table with high ranking First Order officers and their spouses and listened to them talk shop and bother Kylo endlessly with requests to prioritize the passing of this legislation or to approve the building of such and such a dreadnought. Rey occupied herself by eating everything on her plate, and Kylo’s. After she had shoved her food into her mouth at lightning speed, even for her, Kylo had wordlessly pushed his plate in front of her. Rey supposed he didn’t plan on taking off his mask, even to eat, and that was just fine with her - she was still mad at him for not telling her she was to be crowned Empress of the entire kriffin’ galaxy.

Rey had just polished off Kylo’s plate, shifting uncomfortably as her dress cut into her full belly, when Hux leaned over from where he was sitting next to her and asked, “Have you ever been to the Cademimu Sector, Empress?”

Rey froze for a fraction of a second before responding. She noticed that Hux had come alone that night, without a gorgeous man or woman on his arm to keep him company, and 

Rey found an embarrassing amount of satisfaction reveling in that fact.

“No, general, I can’t say that I have.”

“Well,” Hux continued rather pompously, “I can’t say I’ve ever stooped to such a low as to grace that particular planetary system with my presence, but their unique collection of vermin could intrigue even the most sophisticated general.”

Rey was shocked into a mortified silence. She didn’t even know where the Resistance base was; how could he know? And so quickly after Finn and Poe left? Perhaps Hux was just pulling her leg to see if she would react; Rey said nothing in the hopes of drawing more information out of the weasley little general.

“You see, Empress,” Hux’s lips were brushing against Rey’s ear, but she was a statue, terrified of Kylo overhearing, “A well - placed hyperspace tracker on an X-wing is worth more than the Emperor’s childish mind tricks any day of the week.”

***

Kylo had been watching Rey out of the corner of his eye ever since they sat down. While militants and politicians vyed for his attention, he never lost sight of Rey, even when she turned to engage Hux in conversation; he couldn’t hear what was being said, but he could feel her apprehension through the Force bond, so when Hux finally pulled away from her and glanced over at Kylo, a flash of panic distorting his pale face, Kylo put him in his place, saying loud enough for the table to hear,

“I sense unease about my appearance, General Hux.”

Every face at the table, Rey’s included, turned to Hux, who, for his part, didn’t allow his eyes to stray from Kylo’s face.

“About the mask?” Hux asked, and he shook his head slightly. “No, sir. Well done.”

“I like it,” replied the female officer seated next to Hux, and the Force signature of the table relaxed as the officers fell into their usual crude banter.

Kylo glanced up at the dance floor, where a few couples had taken to twirling around each other clumsily, laughing as they stepped on toes and narrowly missed running into each other. Kylo leaned over to Rey, brushing his gloved fingers momentarily against her knee to command her attention.

“Dance with me,” he said.

Rey looked taken aback.

“I can’t dance,” she refused, but Kylo was nothing if not stubborn, so he continued.

“One dance,” he insisted, “then we can leave.”

“You can’t leave,” Rey scoffed, “you’re the Emperor.”

“You are my Empress,” Kylo intertwined his fingers with Rey’s, guiding her away from her chair and towards the edge of the dance floor, “and I do not pity the man who dares deny the Empress her each and every wish.”

He extended a hand to Rey and waited patiently for her to take it; when she did, he pulled her gently closer so his gloved hand was resting on her bare back - of course the dress was kriffin’ backless, would his torture never end - and began leading her in a slow, romantic dance he had learned from his mother years ago on this very planet.

_“Ben, put your hand here, on my back - Maker, Ben, I won’t bite - and hold my other hand, good like that! When did you get so tall, I swear - now let me show you the footwork, it’s not too tricky-”_

_“Mom,” Ben had protested, “when am I ever going to need to know how to dance?”_

_“Oh I don’t know, Ben,” his mother had snapped back sarcastically, but without any real malice in her voice, “But I think you might thank me on your wedding night.”_

 _ _Well it wasn’t his wedding night, but he was still thanking General Organa, wherever she was.__

__Kylo felt as if he was in a dream as he marveled at the feeling of Rey pressed up against him while they spun in slow circles on the outskirts of the dance floor. He knew they must look ridiculous - him in his mask and Rey tripping over her heels every other second - but he couldn’t find it in himself to care if every soul in the ornate ballroom was laughing at him behind embroidered handkerchiefs and flowery paper fans. Kylo was truly happy, and he traced small circles against one of Rey’s vertebrae with his thumb before grasping her hip when she tripped, yet again, over thin air._ _

______“I told you I can’t dance,” Rey muttered, visibly annoyed, her cheeks turning bright red underneath the layers of foundation on her face. Kylo bit his tongue inside his helmet to keep from laughing at her. She was so ridiculous, and so perfect, and he wished they could stay like this forever, swaying in time with the orchestra without a care in the world - no Jedi, no Sith, no Empire, and no Resistance to tear apart their delicately fabricated peace._ _ _ _ _ _

______Too soon, however, the song ended, and Kylo was sucked painfully back into reality. Rey took a step back from him but kept her hand clasped in his as he led her back to the Finalizer._ _ _ _ _ _

______***_ _ _ _ _ _

______It was early morning on Ajan Kloss; Poe and Connix had the watch, and were conversing quietly outside the Falcon, BB-8 keeping them company. Inside the Falcon, the rebels were curled up in every nook and cranny of the craft, sleeping restlessly, a jumble of limbs in the darkness of night._ _ _ _ _ _

______Poe had been awake for more than a standard day cycle at this point, and he was exhausted, but he didn’t trust anyone else to defend the general and her brother. He could sleep tomorrow, when the whole base was awake and bustling with nervous energy._ _ _ _ _ _

______Poe had always felt an unspoken kinship with Leia. His mother had died when he was a child, and Leia had lost her son long before he took on the name Kylo Ren, so in a way, they both felt as if they were each other’s second chances. There was still, of course, sadness in their relationship, because both of them knew that their broken familial bonds would never truly heal. No one could ever take the place of Poe’s late mother, who had been his hero and idol all his life, and Poe would never pretend for a second to be a worthy replacement for Leia’s son. Still, there was something unique and special between them, and Poe knew that if the moment called, he would not hesitate to lay down his life in defense of the princess._ _ _ _ _ _

______He was distracted from Connix’s lengthy description of a rather steamy holodrama by a light blinking on the command module they had erected alongside the Falcon. Poe held up a hand to silence the lieutenant before making his way across the damp ground to receive the comm. He stood there for what felt like an eternity, reading the message once, then twice, then three times, and it was only once Connix impatiently asked him, “What is it, Dameron?” that he finally looked away from the screen._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Wake up the general,” Poe said, his jaw set resolutely, “They know.”_ _ _ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I am SO SORRY for the long wait. I struggled with writing this chapter and was dealing with some ~personal issues~ this past week but we're back, babie!  
> A few notes: I modeled this coronation ceremony after the later Holy Roman Emperors, who, in place of being crowned by the Pope, simply declared themselves Emperor when the time arose. Additionally, if you've noticed some subtle prequel and OT references (mostly prequel because memes), bravo! Maybe you noticed my not-so-subtle jab at TROS (hehe). Sorry, I couldn't help myself.  
> Now that the plot is heating up, feel free to speculate and ask clarifying questions! I would love some feedback, good or bad, and to hear the direction you think this story is going!  
> Finally, SO, as always, is a saint, and I am indebted to you eternally for your patience. You are my sun, my moon, and all of my stars.


	8. Chapter 8

“What the kriff, Benjamin?”

Rey had waited until the doors to Kylo’s quarters closed before turning on him, her eyes bright with rage, and he cowered underneath her deathly stare.

“That’s not even my name,” Kylo muttered quietly as he took off his mask and set it down on the couch, avoiding eye contact with his smoldering Empress.

“Seriously, Ben, what were you thinking?”

Rey was fuming. All throughout the ceremony, dinner, and even while dancing with Kylo Rey contemplated why in the galaxy he wouldn’t tell her that they would be transforming the First Order into an Empire. She conceded that he had, in fact, been right in assessing that the First Order was practically an Empire already. Was there really so much of a difference between Supreme Leader and Empress?

But to top it all off, he had chastised her in front of the Knights as if she was a petulant child.

“I thought,” Rey said, taking advantage of Kylo’s silence to rant, “that we were supposed to be equals. Build a new order together. How can we do that if we’re not honest with each other?”

A nasty little voice in the back of Rey’s mind laughed at her. After all, wasn’t she the one keeping secrets from Kylo?

Kylo’s eyes flashed with anger for a moment before he strode over to the viewport and stared out of it, his breathing uneven and labored. Without turning to Rey, he said,

“Hux thinks you helped the prisoners escape.”

Rey’s heart stopped beating. She took a deep breath before responding.

“I just stood out there in front of the entire galaxy and pledged my loyalty to the First Order. To you.” 

“I know,” Kylo said plainly, his back still to Rey, “I’m just telling you. You had one job - convince the First Order that you had turned. You haven’t even been able to do that.”

That stung. Rey was overcome with anger - anger at herself, for not committing completely to this path she had chosen, anger at Kylo for blindsiding her, anger at Hux and Poe and Finn for complicating things further. Mostly, however, Rey was furious that she felt it again - the call to the light.

Let the Resistance burn, Rey thought savagely as she stared at Kylo’s back, I have everything I need right here. 

_____ _

_____ _

____Rey walked slowly over to where Kylo was standing and hesitated behind him. If he felt her presence, he didn’t show it. Rey took a deep breath before wrapping her arms around his midsection and burying her face in between his shoulder blades. Kylo froze beneath her touch for just a beat before relaxing into it, placing his own gloved hands on top of hers._ _ _ _

____“I’ll do better,” Rey apologized, her words muffled against the thick fabric of Kylo’s robes, “It’s just hard, to let the past go.”_ _ _ _

____“That’s why you kill it, if you have to,” Kylo responded. Rey winced against his back, thinking of Han Solo, but she hid those thoughts away in a corner of her mind before Kylo could sense them._ _ _ _

____“I feel like you still owe me.” Rey smiled against Kylo’s back, an evil plan taking shape inside her head._ _ _ _

____“I will be indebted to you for the remainder of my life.”_ _ _ _

____“You said you pitied the man who dared deny me anything.”_ _ _ _

____“I do.”_ _ _ _

____“I want to train with the Knights of Ren.”_ _ _ _

____At that, Kylo whipped around and fixed his angry stare on her, chewing viciously on the inside of his cheek before pointing a finger at Rey and declaring, “You are the most infuriating person I’ve ever met.”_ _ _ _

____Before Rey could respond, Kylo was halfway across the room._ _ _ _

____“Where are you going?” Rey asked, the annoyance in her tone palpable._ _ _ _

____“To find my Knights,” Kylo answered, picking up his helmet and placing it over his dark hair so his next words came out muffled and distorted, “Care to join me?”_ _ _ _

____***_ _ _ _

____Deep in the belly of the Finalizer, a cloaked figure hid in wait behind a corner, slipping deeper into the shadows when a squad of Stormtroopers marched past. They stayed this way for several minutes, checking a chrono on their wrist and tapping their feet impatiently._ _ _ _

____A tall woman with dark, curly hair made her way around the corner slowly. She was not in armor or the uniform of an officer - her plainclothes stuck out like a sore thumb against the sterile black walls of the First Order flagship. The cloaked figure did not hesitate to pull the woman into the shadows with them. Surprisingly, the woman did not appear affronted or alarmed, and instead asked, “Do they know?”_ _ _ _

____“Yes,” the cloaked figure hissed, “they’re departing from Ajan Kloss as we speak.”_ _ _ _

____“What of the Jedi?” Arapai pressed, glancing over her shoulder briefly._ _ _ _

____“What of her? The two escaped. She did her job.” The cloaked figure sounded slightly agitated._ _ _ _

____“Where will they go?” Arapai whispered._ _ _ _

____“Naboo,” the cloaked figure responded, “the Queen’s court has always been...sympathetic to the general and her causes.”_ _ _ _

____“Will they be safe?”_ _ _ _

____“Most likely.” It was clear the cloaked figure was getting impatient answering questions. “The Emperor is...occupied for the time being. He’ll be easily distracted.”_ _ _ _

____Arapai grinned knowingly. The cloaked figure rolled their eyes before muttering, “If that’s all, I have to go. Report back to me on the girl. We need to know when she’ll show her true colors.”_ _ _ _

____Arapai reached out and grasped the cloaked figure’s hand before a moment._ _ _ _

____“May the force be with you,” she whispered before stepping back out into the hallway and hurrying in the opposite direction from which she came._ _ _ _

____***_ _ _ _

____Watching Rey spar with his Knights aroused Kylo far more than he cared to admit. Still in her coronation dress, her hair falling out of the fancy updo, she cut an impressive, albeit terrifying, figure as she spun at whirlwind speeds, easily holding her own against three of Kylo’s Knights. Beads of sweat dripped down her bare back and between the small mounds of her breasts, and at one point she tore her elegant skirt in an attempt to grant herself more mobility. Kylo stood to the side with his remaining brothers, watching through his mask as Rey whacked Cardo hard against his arm with the training staff and immediately followed it up by knocking Kuruk’s legs out from under him._ _ _ _

____“Oh she’s deadly,” Vicrul whispered from his spot behind Kylo’s right shoulder._ _ _ _

____“I’m going in,” Ap’lek declared, and before Kylo could protest, he joined the fray, catching Rey off guard and landing a hard blow on her exposed thigh. Kylo winced. Rey grunted in pain and then screamed, attacking Ap’lek with unbridled fury, and Kylo noted proudly that the addition of a fourth opponent did not phase Rey at all._ _ _ _

____He allowed them to continue in this manner for several minutes before stepping onto the mat and raising his hands, signaling for them to stop. He tried not to notice the way Rey’s chest heaved with labored breath as he critiqued his Knight’s sparring form._ _ _ _

____“Ushar, you were consistently a touch too slow. Kuruk, strong attack but poor defense - if that had happened on the battlefield you would be dead. Cardo, as always, you favored your right side. It left you vulnerable. Ap’lek, when you fight as a team, you must be more attuned to your comrade’s moves.”_ _ _ _

____The Knights nodded and took a moment to tease each other. This had been an unexpected bonus of joining the Knights of Ren - Kylo, an only child, suddenly had six real brothers to fraternize with. Even if these men were not of his blood, they were the closest thing he had to a family for a long time. The respect he felt for his brothers had been unmatched for nearly a decade until he found Rey, his true equal in life and the Force._ _ _ _

____The Knights turned their attention from Kylo to Rey, who was positively glowing. The Knights offered their praise as well as their suggestions, and she responded in kind, reenacting a few of the moves with Ap’lek and Cardo, pausing to assess each party’s strengths and weaknesses._ _ _ _

____“Master,” Vicrul said softly, and Kylo merely inclined his head to indicate his attention, “will the Empress be conducting the trial of ascendency?”_ _ _ _

____Kylo did not answer right away, and instead fixated his gaze on Rey, who was practicing an attack sequence with Ushar. She bit her lip, concentrating hard on the technicalities of her moving limbs, and when she was finally satisfied with her performance, her face broke into the most radiant smile Kylo had ever seen. From across the room, Rey made eye contact with Kylo, and her smile widened almost imperceptibly._ _ _ _

____“It was never my intention,” Kylo responded under his breath, “but I am confident that, if the Empress so desires, she will have many chances in the near future to complete the trials.”_ _ _ _

____Vicrul nodded. “She would be a fine addition to our team.”_ _ _ _

____Kylo did not acknowledge Vicrul’s assessment, and instead dismissed the Knights for the evening. They put back on their helmets and hung up their weapons, bidding Rey goodnight and nodding respectfully to Kylo as they filed out of the training room._ _ _ _

____When Rey and Kylo were finally alone, they stood staring at each other in comfortable silence for a few moments before Kylo crossed the room to stand in front of Rey. He removed his mask and discarded it on the mat beneath them before kneeling in front of Rey in an almost perfect imitation of how she had knelt before him just hours ago during the coronation. Rey was a statue, waiting for Kylo to make the next move, and he did, placing a gigantic hand on either one of her hips and burying his face in the bare skin of her torso. He couldn’t care less that she was sweaty and grimy - he had come to worship at the foot of his Empress, and even in her current state, he was undeserving of breathing the same air as she did._ _ _ _

____Kylo repressed a shudder as Rey lifted her arms and ran her fingers through his long, dark hair. His lips brushed gently against the skin of her stomach, the ghost of a smile hidden from Rey’s sight._ _ _ _

____Rey cupped either of her hands around Kylo’s cheeks and lifted his face so it was almost level with her own. Above her hazel eyes, her eyebrows were knitted together, and she bit her lip while she searched Kylo’s face hungrily. Her eyes came to rest on the scar she had given him on Starkiller base, and she ran one finger gently down the length of it, his eyes fluttering closed at her touch._ _ _ _

____Without warning, Rey’s lips were pressed against his own, their mouths moving in tandem, Kylo grasping clumsily at Rey’s back, desperately trying to pull her closer to him. How many times had he dreamt of exactly this? Once again, he found that his dreams had been a pitiful replacement for the reality of Rey’s warm tongue flicking across his lower lip and the feeling of her lithe body moving against his. He groaned into her mouth when she pulled on his hair ever so slightly, and he grazed his teeth against the soft skin of her lip in retaliation. She kissed him passionately, as if it were the last thing she would ever do, and Kylo responded in kind, picking Rey up underneath her thighs in one fluid movement, never breaking their kiss, and he backed her against the far wall, her legs wrapping tightly around his torso like a viper. The pleasure mounted inside of him as she pressed against the hardened length of his erection, and drank her in greedily, relishing the heat that had coiled in his core, threatening to spread throughout his entire body._ _ _ _

____Kylo was so drunk off the poison of Rey’s kiss that he barely heard the door opening behind him, and had moved his mouth to kiss Rey’s jawline gently when he heard the unmistakable sound of someone clearing their throat from the other side of the room._ _ _ _

____He nearly dropped Rey in surprise when he whipped his head around to see the smug, pasty face of General Hux._ _ _ _

____***_ _ _ _

____Hux couldn’t believe his luck - it was as if it was his birthday and Empire day all in one. He had caught the Emperor in the act, fraternizing with the little Jedi, and for one of the very few times in his life, Hux felt that he truly held all the power. Ren’s face was quickly turning bright red, and the scavenger was struggling against his grasp, desperately trying to get both her feet back on the ground._ _ _ _

____“What?” Ren growled, dropping his Empress lightly to the ground. Hux was forced to suppress a grin as she attempted to discreetly rearrange the bodice of her dress._ _ _ _

____“I do apologize for interrupting, sir,” Hux drawled, basking in the moment, “but the Resistance base on Ajan Kloss has been located. It’s deserted, but they may have left behind clues as to their next movements. I was hoping the Empress,” Hux inclined his head respectfully in Rey’s direction, and she scowled back at him, “would accompany me in analyzing the intel, given her...expertise in the area.”_ _ _ _

____Ren glanced at Rey before nodding, but before he could sweep out of the room with them, Hux cleared his throat again, and clarified,_ _ _ _

____“Sir, I am only in need of the Empress. Your presence has been requested on the bridge. A bit of tricky navigation coming up and General Pryde requested assistance.” Hux nearly rolled his eyes. He hated stroking Ren’s ego, but the truth was that he was a phenomenal pilot, and while his expertise was not in flying star destroyers, his input was still greatly valued. Hux imagined it was a combination of his bloodline and the Force that allowed Ren to be such a gifted pilot without much practice, and this irked Hux, who didn’t have the nobility of such ancestors nor any magic powers to speak of - everything Hux had, he earned, and he bristled at the knowledge that the Empire of the galaxy had not._ _ _ _

____“Fine,” Ren snapped, clearly invested in getting Hux out of his sight as quickly as possible, “but you will escort the Empress back to my chambers when you are finished.”_ _ _ _

____The desert rat whispered something under her breath that sounded rather like, “I can escort myself back just fine, you scruffy looking nerf - herder,” but Hux ignored her, instead offering his arm to the little Empress. She shot him a look of pure disdain before resting her hand daintily on his elbow, and he bowed shallowly to Ren before tugging Rey out into the hallway._ _ _ _

____***_ _ _ _

____“You know, I was just like you once.”_ _ _ _

____Kylo whipped around at the sound of the unfamiliar voice in the previously empty training room, unsheathing his lightsaber and igniting it in one fluid motion. Standing behind him, leaning lazily up against the wall, was a young man - he couldn’t have been more than a year or two older than Rey. Kylo eyed him warily, noticing after a moment the translucent nature of his skin and the blue light emanating from him. Lightsabers would do no good against a Force ghost, so Kylo flicked off his crossguard reluctantly and clipped it back to his belt._ _ _ _

____Kylo didn’t recognize the young man standing before him, but there was something familiar about his mane of long, unruly hair as well as the sardonic grin plastered underneath a pair of pale blue eyes, but Kylo couldn’t place where he knew them from._ _ _ _

____“Who are you?” Kylo asked aggressively._ _ _ _

____The man didn’t answer Kylo’s question, and instead said, “The path upon which you trod will not bring you the belonging that you seek.”_ _ _ _

____“How do you know?”_ _ _ _

____“I walked that path before you were born,” the young man explained, his eyes never leaving Kylo’s face, “and it cost me everything.”_ _ _ _

____“You’re dead,” Kylo sneered back at the ghost, “which means you’re weak and a fool.”_ _ _ _

____“Perhaps,” the ghost nodded in agreement, “but then what does that make you?”_ _ _ _

____Kylo took a step back, unsure of what the ghost meant. He felt the vitriol bubbling inside of him, and he did not fight it, allowing it to strengthen him against the pull to the light he felt, so inexplicably strong in this moment._ _ _ _

____“You’re taller than I expected,” the young man mentioned idly, more to himself than Kylo, who barely heard him over the cacophony of the battle raging inside of him._ _ _ _

____“You pray to Vader,” the ghost continued, unfazed by the obvious conflict coursing through Kylo’s veins, “but he never answers. Why do you think that is?”_ _ _ _

____Kylo glared at the man from across the room. He was a few inches shorter than Kylo, and he donned the Jedi robes of the Old Republic. All of the old Jedi, save Yoda and Obi-Wan, were killed by order of Emperor Palpatine, Luke had taught him this much, so this man must have died before Vader came into his full power. It was highly unlikely this ghost had known Vader during his mortal life, but that still begged the question - why was he appearing to Kylo, speaking in cryptic tongues of paths and ruin?_ _ _ _

____“What do you know of Vader?” Kylo spit out, and the man’s smile widened even more, as if he had been waiting for this question since his mysterious arrival._ _ _ _

____“Well, everything,” the Force ghost replied, “After all, it was I who killed him.”_ _ _ _

____Kylo sucked in a breath through his teeth as his dark eyes widened in realization._ _ _ _

____“Grandfather?” Kylo breathed, his voice trembling, and the Force ghost laughed in reply._ _ _ _

____“Stop being a whiny little youngling and go apologize to your mother,” Anakin Skywalker admonished, “Maker knows I owe her more than my fair share.”_ _ _ _

____Before Kylo could completely process exactly what was transpiring, Anakin winked at him and disappeared, vanishing into thin air as if he had never been in the training room in the first place._ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! Thank you for all the feedback and kudos! A few things!  
> First, two lines were inspired by SW memes - "What the kriff, Benjamin?" and "Go apologize to your mother." If you know the creator of these memes please let me know, I want to give credit where credit is due!  
> Second, if you forgot about Arapai, she's the Resistance spy masquerading as a seamstress on the Finalizer.  
> Third, I know Rey seems really wishy - washy right now, but I am trying to illustrate the intensity of the battle between the light and dark that both she and Ben feel. I just hope it doesn't come across as poor writing! I do have a plan, I promise.  
> Finally, thank you for reading! Let me know what you think :)


	9. Chapter 9

In all the pomp and circumstance of the coronation and subsequent ball, Rey hadn’t felt out of place in her elegant gown and fancy updo. She hadn’t felt like herself, but she felt that she was playing the part well - a scavenger, masquerading as Empress of the galaxy. This was by far the most provocative and expensive ensemble Rey had ever worn, and she regretted tearing the skirts while training. Here, however, surrounded by Hux and a slew of junior officers assigned to anti - Resistance recon, all decked out in crisp First Order uniforms, she felt awfully exposed, and she had to fight the urge to cross her arms over her bare torso.

Rey desperately wished she was back in the sparring room with Kylo and his Knights. Even more so, Rey was dreaming that she was once again alone with Kylo in the training room...

“In their haste to abandon their makeshift base on Ajan Kloss, the Resistance left behind several command modules and star charts dating back to the days of the Empire,” Hux was saying, having already been droning on for the better part of ten minutes before finally broaching the topic of the meeting, “Our intel indicates that the Resistance sent and received several comms in their final minutes before fleeing the moon - mostly to the Mid Rim, but one was sourced from this very ship.”

At Hux’s declaration, the young officers began whispering darkly to each other, but quieted when Hux spoke again.

“We have a spy in our ranks who just sent a message to the Resistance. Whoever this traitor is won’t stop us. With the Empress’s help, we’ll crush this insignificant rebellion and the First Order will finally achieve what the Galactic Empire could not.”

Every eye in the room was on Rey, and she didn’t need the Force to know what they were thinking - What if the Empress was the spy?

Hux was testing her, Rey realized after a moment, and if she didn’t pass, she would surely be in grave danger, as would Kylo, for trusting her. With resignation, Rey understood that even if she wanted to help the Resistance - which she didn’t - she couldn’t. The mysterious communication from Luke with the false leads that Poe had promised never came.

Rey wordlessly walked over to the gigantic star chart in the middle of the room and gazed at the Mid Rim. She knew far less about the Resistance’s scattered strongholds than Hux thought. She had a vague idea of where General Organa had powerful contacts, individuals willing to harbor Resistance fugitives for the right price, but she would pay dearly for a wrong guess. She wished Kylo was with her, and wondered what he would do if he were here. She tried to channel all of her contempt and anger - at herself, Kylo, Hux, the First Order, the Resistance - and then turned to a pale, dark haired First Order officer seated near her and practically purred,

“Well, General, let’s not spoil the fun. You there!”

Rey recognized a lieutenant rank on the unfortunate man’s shoulders. He shot up, standing at perfect attention, and Rey allowed him to cower underneath her gaze for a moment before asking,

“If you were the rebel scum, where would you go?”

The poor officer looked to be on the brink of passing out, and he took a deep breath before answering, “Your Imperial Majesty, if the Resistance is in the Mid Rim, I would suspect either Kashyyyk or Takadona.”

“Ahh,” Rey turned her attention back to Hux, who was quickly turning an unbecoming shade of purple in anger at Rey’s unorthodox behavior, “So your officers are not all useless after all. If the Resistance is in the Mid Rim is the key. Who’s to say they didn’t contact a thousand different systems once they were finally in hyperspace?

“Why Kashyyyk? Why Takadona?” Rey snapped at the lieutenant.

“Ma’am, the Wookie beast who flew with Han Solo hails from Kashyyyk, and Takadona houses Maz Kanata, a known rebel sympathizer.”

Rey felt a pang of despair at the casual mention of Han, but she buried it quickly, and took a moment to process the analysis before responding. She had to admit, the First Order’s intelligence crew was far better than she had previously given them credit.

“Didn’t the First Order destroy much of Takadona in a raid just a few standard weeks ago?” Rey asked, and she pointedly avoided what else had happened on Takadona during that assault, even though she could feel every single individual in the room remembering how she looked lying unconscious in Kylo Ren’s arms as he carried her, bridal style, off the planet.

“The planet remains,” Hux said, as if he were explaining to a child, “as well as a wealth of valuable natural resources. With your permission, Empress, we will dispatch a unit to both Takadona and Kashyyyk.”

“What of the Core Planets?” Rey asked, manipulating the star chart so she could view the planets surrounding their current position as they hurtled away from Chandrila.

“I doubt even the Resistance’s precious princess would be so foolish as to stake out hiding in the same planetary system as the First Order main fleet,” Hux scoffed, and Rey turned to him with raised eyebrows before he hastily recovered, “However, I would suggest the Corellian system. They have been on the brink of rebellion for many cycles. I would be unsurprised if they were playing host to the traitors.”

The memory of Han Solo seemed to permeate the steel walls of this strategy room. Corellia was Han’s home planet. Rey’s resolve waived with every passing second. Where was Kylo?

“Dispatch a small unit to Corellia immediately,” Rey instructed, and several of the seated officers jumped to execute her command, “Kashyyyk and Takodona will require larger reinforcements.”

“I wholeheartedly agree, Your Majesty,” Hux simped, “But I have to wonder - what of Naboo?”

Rey felt her heart sink in her chest. Naboo had been one Mid Rim planet Rey had hoped to avoid discussing. She was one of the few people in the entirety of the Resistance who knew that General Organa communicated regularly with the Queen of Naboo. Leia had told Rey that herself, not long before Rey boarded the Falcon to find Luke. Leia had promised that if Rey needed a safe place, if she was intercepted by the First Order or Luke was gone when she reached Ahch - To, the court of Naboo would welcome her with open arms.

“Naboo borders the Outer Rim and has a reputation for defiance. Additionally, given Organa’s...personal history with Naboo, I believe it is well worth pursuing, unless your knowledge of the Resistance suggests otherwise.” Hux was watching Rey, expectantly awaiting a response.

Rey tried to slow her pounding heart. Kylo’s voice appeared suddenly in her head, nothing more than a memory, but as real as if he had been standing in front of her.

_“That’s all I want for you, Rey. Not to be free of the conflict, but to be free to make your own choices.” ___

__“Alert General Pryde to set course for Naboo,” Rey commanded, and Hux stared back at her in disbelief, “I wish to search the planet myself.”_ _

__“Your Majesty,” Hux protested, “We need the Emperor’s approval-”_ _

__Before Hux could finish his ill conceived statement, he was clutching at his throat, his eyes popping out of his head as Rey choked the air out of his windpipe from across the room._ _

__“Care to try again, General?” Rey asked cheerfully, her tone a harsh juxtaposition with the image of Hux suffocating to death on the floor in front of her._ _

__“My Empress…” Hux choked out, and Rey released him, not wishing to anger Kylo over something as trivial as accidentally murdering his least favorite general._ _

__Hux lay sputtering on the ground for several moments before rising to his knees. Still rubbing his throat, and between deep breaths, he whispered,_ _

__“My Empress’s wish is my command.”_ _

__***_ _

__Kylo burst out of the smoking training room, his lightsaber still ablaze, and he stalked the halls of the Finalizer as he made his way to the bridge. After Anakin Skywalker departed, Kylo repeatedly hacked his lightsaber against the wall where the ghost had stood, again and again, until the steel was warped and burning hot._ _

__His grandfather’s appearance shook Kylo to his core. For years he had operated under the apparently false notion that he was harnessing the power of Darth Vader, only to find out that Vader no longer existed in any form in the galaxy at all, replaced instead by a grinning, slack - postured child hell bent on destroying Kylo’s life. It was infuriating and unsettling, and Kylo needed to snuff out his damned connection to the dead Jedi Knight before it threatened all which he had labored to create._ _

__Kylo swept angrily onto the bridge, barely noticing the officers and Stormtroopers snap to attention, stalking right up to General Pryde, who turned from the massive viewport, looking surprised._ _

__“Sir,” Pryde asked, glancing apprehensively at the crossguard, “How may I assist you?”_ _

__“If I remember properly,” Kylo hissed through his mask, the voice modulator crackling, “it was you who requested my assistance. If your crew is truly so incompetent-”_ _

__“Sir! I do apologize. Since the change of course the navigation team-”_ _

__“What change of course?” Kylo yelled, and Pryde’s face dissolved into confusion._ _

__“Your Majesty, the bridge received notification of a course change from General Hux-”_ _

__“Hux has no right to authorize a course change!” Kylo roared, and Pryde flinched, apprehension and unease written in his lined features. Beneath them, Kylo noticed several technicians glancing back and forth between the two men with bewildered expressions._ _

__“Ah, sir,” Pryde whispered, leaning closer, “the order came from the Empress.”_ _

__Kylo froze. Rey ordered a course change, on his ship, without asking him? Whatever affection he was feeling towards her after their kiss in the training room dissolved instantly, replaced with acute betrayal and, Kylo was embarrassed to admit, a wounded ego._ _

__“And pray tell, General,” Kylo asked slowly, “To where, exactly, does the Empress bid us?”_ _

__Pryde looked as though he would rather kiss a Wookie than deliver the next edition of that evening’s bad news._ _

__“Naboo, sir.”_ _

__Kylo’s rage overwhelmed him until he actually saw red, and he stabbed his lightsaber into the ground over and over again, the echo of Anakin Skywalker’s laughter ringing in his ears._ _

__***_ _

__The Millenium Falcon slipped into Naboo’s atmosphere under the cover of darkness, landing silently in the underground Royal hangar thanks to the pilot’s expert navigating. To an unobservant passerby, the Corellian class freighter appeared to be mostly empty._ _

__A legion of heavily armed soldiers surrounding a short, cloaked figure stood at the base of the ship, waiting to receive the passengers. Down the ramp slowly walked an elderly looking humanoid pair, their arms interlocked, and they were flanked by a protocol droid and a blue astromech, as well as a towering Wookie._ _

__The armored escort parted to allow their charge to greet the Falcon’s passengers._ _

__“Master Jedi,” Queen Iellal Baize of Naboo greeted, inclining her head respectfully towards the man before extending a hand to the woman, “General, we are most pleased to host the family of our beloved late Queen Amidala.”_ _

__“We are grateful for your hospitality, Your Majesty,” Leia Organa smiled briefly, and Luke Skywalker nodded in agreement, glancing apprehensively around the hangar._ _

__“Your people welcome you home with open arms,” the young queen declared, and Leia felt her smile turn morose as she remembered her true home, now nothing more than floating space dust in the galaxy’s Core for more than thirty years._ _

__“General,” Queen Baize continued, gesturing for her guests to follow her back towards the castle, “I do hope you find our accommodations to be sufficient.” Leia offered the queen a knowing look before responding,_ _

__“I think you will find we are simple people, Your Majesty. Your invitation itself was more than sufficient. My brother and I owe you a debt of gratitude.”_ _

__Queen Baize smiled before turning to her guard._ _

__“Captain,” the queen called, “Dismiss your squadron. I’m certain the Master Jedi will escort me to my rooms once our guests are comfortable.” Luke nodded wordlessly again._ _

__The soldiers glanced nervously between each other before bowing respectfully to their queen and bidding her farewell. Once the guard was out of earshot, Queen Baize turned quickly to Luke and Leia._ _

__“How many are there?” She asked urgently._ _

__“A little more than two dozen,” Leia responded under her breath._ _

__“That’s it?” The queen responded sadly. Leia nodded. “There are empty pilot quarters off the main hangar,” the queen explained, “My guard can protect the two of you under the sovereign laws of my planet, but I cannot ask them to risk their lives to protect the Resistance. I can be the only one who knows. I will protect my people as I protect you.”_ _

__Leia reached out and cupped the girl’s cheek. She was so young - nearly the same age Padme was when she was elected. Leia wondered if her mother had led with such compassion and grace. She hoped so._ _

__“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Leia said, her voice ringing with sincerity._ _

__“No,” Queen Baize countered, “Thank you, General.”_ _

__Leia watched as Luke offered his arm to the queen and walked with her back to the castle. When the pair disappeared behind a fortified door, Leia turned to her three companions._ _

__R2-D2 beeped questioningly. Leia shrugged, and leaned on Chewie as she made her way back to the Falcon._ _

__C-3PO responded nervously, “I would say that the odds of avoiding capture during our stay are three million-”_ _

__Chewie growled menacingly to interrupt, and C-3PO looked rather affronted at the onslaught. Leia rolled her eyes, not sparing a glance for the offended droid before saying,_ _

__“Just for the record, 3-PO, I’m with the Wookie on this one.”_ _

__***_ _

__Back in Kylo’s ‘fresher, Rey used the Force to remove one of the shower tiles, hiding the cloaked binary beacon beneath the floorboards before patching the damage with a wave of her hand. After her meeting with Hux, she decided it was too dangerous to keep on her person much longer. If it was discovered on her, she would be a goner for sure._ _

__Hux had, against Rey’s wishes, accompanied her on her walk back to Kylo’s quarters. Silently, Rey admitted that it was useful having him there. More than a few times she nearly got lost in the endless maze of sterile black hallways, and without Hux she would have been stuck wandering the ship for hours._ _

__Rey changed quickly into sleep clothes, unable to distract herself from the fact that, sooner rather than later, she would have to confront the seamstress who had revealed Finn and Poe’s location to her. If the woman was caught, there was a good chance she would reveal Rey’s disloyalty as well._ _

__Rey sat cross legged on the bed and attempted to meditate, needing desperately to center herself after what had proven to be a rather difficult day. After several minutes, she sensed Kylo’s Force signature entering the room. She felt him cross the room and stand in front of her, projecting fury and impatience through the Force bond, and she waited a moment longer before opening her eyes. She was surprised to see not the face of Ben Solo staring back at her, but the mask of Kylo Ren, his gloved hands clenching and unclenching in poorly contained rage._ _

__She nearly rolled her eyes before dropping lightly back onto the bed and asking, “What?”_ _

__“Perhaps you could elucidate for me a peculiar situation in which I have found myself, Empress,” Kylo said, the anger in his voice palpable even through the mask, “Why did Pryde just inform me that my flagship is set to land on Naboo in less than three standard cycles?”_ _

__Rey felt instant relief. Well, if this was all Kylo was upset about it wouldn’t last long. Surely there was some type of misunderstanding._ _

__“Ben, I think the Resistance is on Naboo,” Rey began, but before she could finish, Kylo interrupted her._ _

__“Ben Solo is dead!” Kylo Ren roared back at Rey, and she flinched visibly, “And if you can’t accept that simple fact, you have no right playing Empress.”_ _

__“I have no right?” Rey screamed back, rising to her knees on the bed as Kylo crossed his arms in front of himself, “You have no right! We’re supposed to be equals in this-”_ _

__“You’re a scavenger,” Kylo yelled back at her, “I am the grandson of Darth Vader. You will never be my equal!”_ _

__Rey felt her cheeks turning red in embarrassment and her eyes overflowing with tears at Kylo’s harsh words, but she buried those feelings deep beneath the boiling vitriol threatening to pour out of her._ _

__“You don’t get to claim your Skywalker heritage just when it’s convenient for you,” Rey shot back, “If Ben Solo is truly gone, then Kylo Ren is an orphan, just like me.” The words hurt to say. Who would give up a loving family?_ _

__“You embarrass me in front of my officers, you defy me time and time again,” Kylo ranted, pacing back and forth in front of Rey, “You don’t treat me as your own equal.”_ _

__“Great,” Rey countered sarcastically, “I guess we’re both assholes.”_ _

__“Yes, we are!” Kylo agreed. Rey actually did roll her eyes at this. Kylo was a Skywalker male, after all, and his penchant for dramatics ran deep in his blood._ _

__“At least I’m not a murderous snake,” Rey said, her voice dripping with disdain. Kylo cocked his head to the side and regarded her for a moment before responding._ _

__“Aren’t you?” Kylo asked. “You killed the Praetorian guard and many of my Stormtroopers. You’ve shot TIE fighters out of the sky and you laughed while they imploded. You think you’re better than me because you killed some faceless soldiers while I killed my father? At the end of the day, aren’t they all just...men?”_ _

__“That was war!” Rey screamed back through her tears, and Kylo laughed coldly._ _

__“Yes, it was,” Kylo spit back, “and if killing a Rebel Alliance general doesn’t fit comfortably inside your preconceived notion of war, then you should rethink why you agreed to fight in the first place.”_ _

__“I never asked for this!” Rey was sobbing openly, her hands raking through her hair, and she knew she looked like a madman but she didn’t care. “All I did was rescue a BB unit from Teedo and then everything happened so fast. Sometimes I wish I had left that little droid alone. Slowly starving to death on a desolate desert planet would be better than spending one more second with you, a child in a mask!”_ _

__Had Rey really been kissing Kylo Ren less than an hour ago? How had they gone from passionately making out to hurling insults and slurs at each other so quickly? What had happened to Kylo that made him so volatile?_ _

__Without hesitation, Kylo ripped off his helmet and threw it on the bed in front of Rey, who almost fell over when she saw Kylo’s unmasked face. His eyes were rimmed with red and tear streaks stained the skin of his cheekbones, which was taut and pale. He looked as if he had seen a ghost. Rey was struck by how young he looked._ _

__“I’m ten years older than you,” Kylo whispered, his voice sounding oddly small once it was void of the mask’s modulator._ _

__“What?’ Rey asked, surprised by his sudden shift in tone._ _

__“I’m ten years older than you,” Kylo repeated with a small shrug of his huge shoulders, “You were born the same year I began training with Luke.”_ _

__“How do you know this?” Rey asked._ _

__“When were you born?”_ _

__“Fifteen years after the battle of Yavin.”_ _

__“I was born five years after the battle of Yavin. Case in point.”_ _

__“That doesn’t answer my question,” Rey pointed out, quickly becoming exasperated._ _

__Kylo sighed and rubbed a gloved hand over his face before answering._ _

__“I...felt your birth.”_ _

__Rey stared back at him, looking concerned._ _

__“In the Force,” Kylo explained, “I felt your birth through our Force bond.”_ _

__“You knew about the bond the whole time?” Rey asked, wondering how Kylo could have left her all alone on Jakku for almost fifteen years if he had known of her existence in the world._ _

__“At the time,” Kylo clarified, “I didn’t know what was happening. I was meditating with Luke one morning and I felt a burst of light. It felt...happy. It was unlike anything I had ever felt before; the happiest moment of my entire life. It was fleeting, though._ _

__“And then,” Kylo continued, “when I was fifteen, I had one of the darkest days of my life up until that point, void of any explanation or reason. That was the first day I saw true fear in my uncle’s eyes. You would have been five years old”_ _

__“That was the day…” Rey realized, and she couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud, so she thought it through their Force bond._ _

__“That was the day your parents left you on Jakku.”_ _

__Rey nodded numbly, all out of tears, but Kylo wasn’t done talking, so she trained her eyes back on his face._ _

__“When I was twenty - three,” Kylo explained, and Rey was beginning to struggle to keep ages and dates straight, “I discovered I was the grandchild of Darth Vader.”  
__

__Rey had to think hard about this one. The years on Jakku had blended together in her mind, each day almost identical to the last, but one scene in particular stuck out in her mind._ _

__“I was thirteen,” Rey breathed, “and I became so engulfed in a fit of anger that I nearly killed Unkar Plutt. That had never happened before.” One of Unkar’s minions had stolen days worth of scavenging from Rey’s AT-AT, and when she confronted him about it, he had merely laughed in her face. She hadn’t eaten in three days; she had been repairing her finds to make them more valuable. Rey still had a small faint scar on her forehead from where Unkar had knocked her out in self defense._ _

__“You’re old,” Rey realized, and Kylo’s face twitched as if he was holding back a smile._ _

__“You see, Rey,” Kylo said quickly, kneeling in front of her again and taking her hands in his, “You and I - we’re one soul in two bodies. Different sides of the same coin. We experienced each other’s emotions before we even knew the other existed. We’re meant to exist in the same plane, Rey. The Force wills it, as do I.”_ _

__“As do I,” Rey echoed, gazing at her hands clasped gently in his._ _

__“Rey,” Kylo hesitated, staring deep into her eyes before shutting his own and pressing a tentative, closed mouth kiss on her lips. It was a question, not a request, and he waited as still as a statue for Rey to make her decision._ _

__Less than one second passed before Rey opened her mouth against Kylo’s and returned his kiss. This was nothing like their kiss in the training room - that had been heated, passionate, and desperate - this was slow and calculating, and the kiss said everything they wished they could tell each other._ _

___I’m sorry. I know I hurt you. You’re important. We’re equals. You’re not alone. ____ _

____With each shared breath, Kylo and Rey moved closer together, his hands coming to rest on her thighs as she pulled on his shoulders. Rey felt oddly at peace. They kissed until all the tears had dried from their faces and there were no more wordless declarations to be made._ _ _ _

____Eventually, Kylo reluctantly broke apart from Rey, kissing her on the nose before rising to say, “Good night, Rey,” and then he turned and walked towards the couch._ _ _ _

____Rey panicked, not wanting Kylo to leave, and without thinking, she called out,_ _ _ _

____“Ben!”_ _ _ _

____He stopped in his tracks but did not turn around._ _ _ _

____“Stay with me tonight, please.” Rey hated how desperate she sounded, and she hoped Kylo didn’t detect the weakness she felt._ _ _ _

____Rather unexpectedly, Kylo turned around, and he stared at her greedily with a sly glint in his dark eyes._ _ _ _

____“But who am I,” he repeated, his low voice making her shiver, “to deny the Empress?”_ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the longest chapter yet, clocking in at just over 4,000 words, and it's a beast.  
> Will we get a Skywalker family reunion on Naboo? It would be fitting, wouldn't it? (Perhaps a cameo by everyone's favorite 23 year old grandad? Sorry, the mental image of Ben saying 'Grandfather?' to someone who looks younger than him is too funny.) Tune in next time to find out!  
> Also sorry for the angst train in the middle there, but we got a little fluff at the end so I don't feel too too bad. The Imperial Couple is cranky. They should just kiss more IMHO.  
> Thank you again for all the feedback! Please keep it coming! It's Friday where I am, so happy weekend!  
> OH, P.S. Chewie says "Never tell me the odds." I literally can't help myself with references and this was also a surprisingly Han - centric chapter so it fit.  
> P.P.S (so sorry) According to Wookiepedia, it is canon that Ben left to train with Luke the year Rey was born and I just thought that was way too cool to leave out.


	10. Chapter 10

Naboo was the most beautiful planet Rey had ever seen.

Standing at the viewport on the bridge of the Finalizer, gazing down at the fast approaching planet as the ship made its descent, Rey was struck with a pang of sorrow - if it weren’t for Darth Vader, this was the life Luke and Leia would have known.

As Rey stared absentmindedly out the window, she found herself lost in thought. The last two days in transit had been a whirlwind. During the day, she barely saw Kylo - she spent most of her time, rather unfortunately, with Hux and his recon team, reviewing Resistance battle strategies and preparing for their appearance in the unfamiliar system as they awaited word from their convoys sent to the other suspect worlds. The Emperor was busy settling trade disputes and crushing noncompliant worlds via his legions of Stormtroopers, and she trained in the evenings with his Knights while he was off coordinating the conquest of the galaxy. Rey only saw Kylo when she rose from bed and returned to it in the evening, Kylo planting a soft kiss on her forehead when he joined her, long after she had pretended to fall asleep.

Rey was apprehensive at the prospect of scouting Naboo for the Resistance. Today, again, she donned a ridiculous dress instead of her more functional robes - a black velvet number with a square neckline and long, thin sleeves. She had fought Hux tooth and nail on this one, but eventually lost, Hux explaining impatiently that appearances were important on Naboo, and if Rey were to show up looking anything less than imperial, the queen would see it as a personal insult. Rey had conceded on one condition; Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber was currently holstered to her thigh, well concealed underneath her long skirts, but it brought her peace of mind. Rey wasn’t sure what she would do if she actually found the Resistance. She didn’t like dwelling on that thought for long.

She felt Kylo’s Force signature enter the bridge, and she turned to greet him, noticing his velvet black robes matched her damned dress. She wondered idly about Arapai. A different seamstress had helped Rey dress this morning, and she hadn’t dared ask about the fate of the undercover spy, fearing outing herself. Rey wished that Arapai would abandon the First Order on Naboo so Rey could act none the wiser, but something told her Arapai wasn’t the type to run from a fight.

When Kylo reached her, he knelt momentarily in front of her, his masked head inclined respectfully. Rey offered him her hand.

“Empress,” he intoned, and he rose to stand beside her at the viewport, his arms crossed in front of his torso, “Pryde informed me we’ll be making planetfall in just a few short minutes. Accompany me to the hangar?”

Rey nodded stiffly and took his arm, allowing him to escort her out of the bridge, past the Stormtroopers and technicians standing at attention beneath them. Rey still didn’t feel as if she was truly grasping the art of ruling a galaxy. It had only been a few days, so she wasn’t trying to be too hard on herself, but she knew she missed obvious social cues and was awkward and flailing even on her best days. She just wasn’t a politician. She much preferred to spar with the Knights, with whom she felt a real kinship, rather than navigate the viper pit of the upper echelons of First Order leadership.

Kylo and Rey passed the short trip to the hangar bay in uncomfortable silence. Once there, Hux greeted them with a halting little bow, reaching out a hand and bringing Rey’s knuckles to his mouth. Rey had to repress a shudder as her fingers brushed against his pale lips, and she felt Kylo stiffen next to her. Spending the last two and a half days almost exclusively with Hux had been tantamount to torture, and his newfound boldness in interacting with his Empress only increased Rey’s frustration.

“Your Majesties,” Hux simpered, and Rey had to work to suppress a rather undignified eye roll, “Queen Baize is most pleased at your safe arrival. She is waiting to receive you as we speak.”

Kylo nodded wordlessly at Hux, and then dragged Rey down the open ramp without so much as a backwards glance in Hux’s direction.

Naboo’s beauty was even more striking planetside. Rey couldn’t believe how green the foliage was, or that the blue lakes were so clear they reflected the regatta of starships orbiting above them. The mountains off in the distance looked like something from a dream.

The serenity of the landscape of Naboo was interrupted by an armed security detail escorting a small, elaborately dressed individual towards the base of the Finalizer. As the receiving party approached, Rey realized the elegantly dressed girl, with her deep purple gown and tall, ornate hairstyle, was the queen. She couldn’t have been older than sixteen.

“Their queen is a child?” Rey hissed to Kylo as she watched the sovereign draw closer.

Kylo shrugged. “The Naboo value the innocence and creativity of children in their leadership. They elected her. She serves dutifully.”

“How strange.”

“She’s only a few years younger than you. Besides, who are you to judge? I didn’t realize Jakku was a beacon of democracy.”

Before Rey could fire back a witty retort, the queen’s guard was upon them, and Rey pushed her frustration with Kylo to the back of her mind as she plastered a diplomatic countenance on her unwilling face. Kylo had been more irritable than usual since their disagreement a few nights ago - she could sense it through the Force, even if she hadn’t been seeing him in person. She wasn’t sure what had happened to set him off, but she was tired of his secret - keeping; she resolved to discover the source of his unhappiness tonight, even if it meant arguing until the early hours of the next morning.

“Your Imperial Majesties,” the Naboo queen greeted with a shallow curtsey, “I am Iellal Baize. I represent my people here on Naboo. We are so honored and humbled to host you as our guests. Please, be welcome here.”

Rey glanced at Kylo, who appeared to be rendered mute behind his obsidian helmet, and Rey sighed internally as she grasped the girl’s hands in her own, smiling kindly as she replied,

“Thank you, Queen Baize. The Emperor and I are very much looking forward to our stay. We appreciate your generosity on such short notice.”

It was all politics, of course. It wasn’t as if the queen was foolish enough to deny Kylo Ren and his mysterious empress anything less than a warm welcome.

Queen Baize turned to walk back towards the courtyard just a short distance away, and Rey fell in step alongside her, tugging Kylo by his elbow in their wake. 

“Your planet is so beautiful,” Rey all but gushed, and the queen responded with a bright smile.

“We are pleased it is to your liking, Empress.”

Rey continued to make small talk with the young queen through the courtyard and into the palace, which was just as lovely as the planet surrounding it. The castle walls were tall and white, with large windows and artfully sculpted pillars. Rey’s heels - another insistence from Hux - clicked loudly on the marble floors.

They followed Queen Baize up a grand staircase and down a carpeted hallway. As they walked, she explained that the palace had been constructed nearly nine hundred years ago, and had served every monarch of the Royal House of Naboo since then. Rey nodded politely and responded when expected, but her mind was far away from Naboo. She felt a disturbance in the Force, and she couldn’t tell if it came from Kylo or beyond, but it was making her uneasy.

After several more minutes, the queen stopped in front of a large wood door with golden handles, her guard gathered respectfully behind her.

“Your quarters, Your Imperial Majesties.”

Rey responded with gratitude, eager to slam the door behind Kylo, rip off his stupid mask, and demand to know why he was acting so annoyingly aloof when they were here to do a very important job.

“If you are in need of anything, please do not hesitate to contact me directly,” Queen Baize implored, and as the young monarch glanced up at Kylo’s mask, Rey saw, for the first time, the queen’s true age in her painted face. Unrestrained fear distorted her youthful features so quickly Rey thought she could have imagined it, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared, replaced by the same regal expression that had greeted them at the Finalizer.

As a guard moved to open the doors, the queen moved as well, unexpectedly pulling Rey into a tight hug, and Rey barely had time to react before the girl whispered urgently in her ear.

“Rey, never be afraid of who you are.”

Rey pulled back abruptly from the embrace, but the queen was already walking down the hallway, flanked by her security detail. She turned to Kylo, wondering what he thought of that unusual breach of protocol, but Kylo was standing, frozen, staring into the open room through the slits in his mask.

The disturbance in the Force that had been nagging Rey ever since their arrival on Naboo was now screaming in her ears. She turned slowly, and nearly fainted at the strange sight that greeted them in “their quarters”.

No less than twenty royal soldiers lined the walls of the small room, blasters trained on Rey and Kylo, and sitting on two chairs in the middle, looking for all the world as if they would rather be anywhere else in the galaxy…

Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa.

***

Rey felt Kylo move before she saw him do so, and in a split second, she ripped the lightsaber from its spot on her thigh, stepping in front of Kylo, and raised the blue blade to meet his own in a blinding clash of electricity.

He bore down on her, and she pushed back, hard, baring her teeth at the overwhelming effort it took to keep him at bay.

“Get out of the way!” he snarled angrily at her, and she shook her head, growling back in reply,

“Over my dead body!”

They struggled like this for just a moment longer before an unseen entity forced them apart, and they stood, still as statues, glaring at each other from a yard away. Rey struggled futilely against the invisible ropes holding her in place.

Luke Skywalker was standing, his arm outstretched, using the Force to separate Kylo and Rey, and he motioned to the royal guards, saying, “Leave us.”

“But, sir,” one soldier protested, “The queen has ordered us-”

“I think I can handle myself,” Luke replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes in the direction of the still frozen Kylo and Rey, “And if they kill us, or each other, consider it a personal favor to the galaxy. You’re dismissed.”

The soldiers glanced at each other apprehensively before quickly filing out of the room, and only once the door had closed and locked behind them did Luke turn to address his two former padawans.

“That’s no way to act in front of your mother,” Luke admonished Kylo, and Rey could feel the anger and humiliating building in Kylo’s Force signature, threatening to break him out of Luke’s invisible stronghold.

“And that lightsaber is mine,” Luke said, turning to Rey, and he ripped it from her grasp, sending the weapon careening across the room into his outstretched hand and he clipped it to his belt before doing the same to Kylo’s saber.

“Now,” Luke continued in the same condescending tone, “If you’re ready to act like adults, I’ll release you.”

Neither Rey nor Kylo responded, but after a moment, Rey felt the coils of Luke’s Force grip release her, and she shook out her arms, staring incredulously across the room at Luke. For a moment, Rey thought that Luke had not freed Kylo, as he still stood immobile, but it seemed to be from shock, as his gloved fists were clenching and unclenching angrily at his side.

Luke motioned for Rey and Kylo to join him and Leia at the two unoccupied chairs in the middle of the room, but neither of them so much as acknowledged as Luke’s gesture, so he shrugged and made to stand behind Leia, placing his hands on the back of her chair.

From the moment the doors had opened, Leia had eyes only for her son, this much was obvious to Rey, and the intensity of Leia’s gaze, even when fixed on Kylo, was too much for her to bear, and she found herself instead making eye contact with Luke - two intruders on the private reunion between mother and son.

An errant tear dripped down Leia’s cheek.

“Take off that mask, Ben,” she whispered, her gnarled hands trembling in her lap, “You don’t need it.”

For the second time since entering the room, Leia’s son spoke, but it wasn’t with the voice of Ben Solo that Rey heard, once in a blue moon, in his rooms on the Finalizer. It was the mechanized voice of the monstrous Kylo Ren, and disdain dripped in his tone as he responded, “What do you think you’ll see if I do?”

“The face of my son.”

The room held its breath as Kylo slowly removed the mask from his face and dropped it on the ground beneath him. His cheeks were flushed red, his eyes bright with unshed tears, and his jaw was set resolutely. Despite the gravity of their current situation, Rey couldn’t help but notice the way his full lips parted slightly and his dark hair fell raggedly to his shoulders. He was truly handsome.

Leia covered her hand with her mouth and her eyes went wide at the sight of the son’s face. Rey felt a sharp pain in her heart. When was the last time Leia had seen the face of her son?

“Your son,” Kylo sneered, “is dead. He was weak and foolish like his father, so I killed them both.”

“My son is alive.”

Rey was frozen where she stood, but not due to any hold the Force had on her. She didn’t know what to do. Any moment Kylo could snap and attack Luke and Leia...could he do that? Could he kill his own mother?

He killed his father, the nasty voice in Rey’s head reminded her, and she winced at the memory. She glanced over at Luke, who shook his head imperceptibly at her - there was nothing for her to do.

Kylo was clearly overcome with emotion, but when he spoke next, it was not to his mother, but to his uncle, and his voice shook as if he was holding back tears.

“Did you come back to say you forgive me? To save my soul?” Kylo practically spit the last few words out as if they were painful to say.

“No,” Luke replied simply, “But, Ben, I did fail you. I failed you both. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sure you are! You were such an incompetent Master that you drove Rey right into my arms with your hubris and deceit! Without her, the Resistance is dead. The war is won. And when I kill you, I will have killed the last Jedi!”

Rey flinched at Kylo’s words, and she knew what Luke was going to say before the words had even left his mouth, but she silently willed him not to reveal her disloyalty in this moment, it would be too much to bear-

“Even if you strike me down in anger, I will not be the last Jedi,” Luke said, but instead of turning angrily on Rey, as she expected him to, Kylo laughed, cold and mirthless, and Rey stared at him in open shock.

“You’re a fool, old man. There’s no light left in her. I’ve destroyed it all. She’s made her choice. She can’t go back now, just like I can’t.”

“You’re wrong,” Leia said quietly, and the silence that followed her declaration was deafening, “Ben, you can always come back. I’m sorry. I love you.”

“You loved me so much that you feared me? Sent me away? Hid my true bloodline from me?

“And you,” Kylo continued, turning angrily to Luke, “You loved me so much you tried to kill me in my sleep?”

“Did you love your father?” Leia asked, her voice barely a whisper, but the question pierced the air in the room as if she had screamed it.

“I don’t love anything.”

“You’re wrong, Ben,” Luke said softly, and Kylo turned from his uncle in disgust, staring out one of the large glass windows as if he was contemplating jumping out of it to escape any more of the conversation, “You love deeply. That’s why your father’s death eats you up inside. It’s why you’ve never been able to commit yourself fully to the dark side. It’s why you saved Rey’s life even when the action endangered your own.”

Rey was so encapsulated by the drama and intrigue of the conversation she found herself bearing witness to that she almost didn’t catch Luke’s insinuation - did he think Ben loved her?

Kylo opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, a pair of unfamiliar voices came from behind them.

“They’ve changed the upholstery, I see.”

“No, Master, it’s the same as it was last time.”

Rey and Kylo whipped around together, and were faced with what, to Rey, was a rather disturbing sight.

Two men stood side by side, one rather young and ruggedly handsome, with long, unkempt hair and a lopsided grin, and the other was older, advanced enough in years to be his companion’s elder brother, with a blond beard and similar long hair. The most striking thing about the pair, however, was that they were translucent and emanating blue light from their intangible bodies.

“Ah, perhaps you’re right,” the older ghost agreed, “But they’ve most certainly repainted. A pity. I liked it better the old way.”

Suddenly, as if they had only just noticed the room had corporeal occupants, the two looked up from their conversation to survey the landscape of the conversation they had just interrupted. In the back of her mind, Rey admitted they were probably a strange crew - between Leia’s tears, Luke’s defensive position, Kylo’s discarded mask, and the two lightsabers, they were a sight for sore eyes.

Rather than turn tail and run, which was what Rey expected these mysterious spectral-like creatures to do, they broke out into identical, wide, genuine smiles.

“Did you apologize to your mother?” the younger one asked, and it took Rey a moment to realize he was talking to Kylo, who just chewed the inside of his cheek in response. Rey glanced back at the Skywalker twins and noticed that neither of them were looking at the ghosts at all, and both seemed to be studying the detailing on the carpet with great enthusiasm.

“Ah, so this is him, Anakin?” the older ghost asked, and Rey nearly stepped back in surprise, turning to Luke, the obvious question in the forefront of her mind, “I see what you mean. Wasn’t expecting my namesake to become a Sith lord, but, you know, beggars can’t be choosers and all that.”

“Master Kenobi,” Luke’s voice came from across the room, finally, as if he had just regained his ability to speak, “What are you doing here?” Luke was rubbing one gloved, mechanical hand over his face in a way that made him seem a lot older than he actually was.

“Well, no offense, Luke, but this time I’m not here for you. I’m here for her,” Obi-Wan Kenobi said, pointing at Rey, and she wondered, not for the first time in her life, why she was in a room surrounded by some of the most legendary Force users in the galaxy’s history.

“Me?” Rey asked incredulously, “What could you want with me?”

“Well, again,” Obi-Wan explained cheerfully, “Try not to take offense, but it’s really more about what he,” Obi-Wan gestured to Anakin kriffin’ Skywalker, “Wants with them,” he continued, gesturing to Kylo, Luke, and Leia, “But I think you and I could enjoy some quality time together as well,” he finished, his warm eyes twinkling at Rey.

“Honestly, Obi-Wan, I’d rather talk to you than...Anakin,” Leia said, her voice full of anger for the first time since Rey and Kylo had entered the room.

“Leia,” Anakin began, his voice heavy with sorrow and regret, but Obi-Wan placed a hand on his shoulder, and shook his head.

“Come now, princess, you don’t want anything to do with me!” Obi-Wan countered jovially, and Rey could tell that the Jedi Master, always the negotiator, was trying exceptionally hard to keep spirits high despite the charged atmosphere in the room. “Besides, I do love family reunions. I think you four have quite a bit to talk about.”

“I don’t have anything to say to him,” Leia replied coarsely, but before she could continue her tirade against her estranged father, Luke leaned down and whispered something unheard by Rey in Leia’s ear that caused the general to go strangely still.

“Leia, please,” the ghost of Anakin Skywalker implored, his voice sounding far too old for the young body it inhabited, “I know I can’t change what was, but let me help fix what is. I want to help him.”

Leia didn’t acknowledge the ghost’s pleading, but she didn’t reject his offer either. Rey, however, had stopped paying attention to the conversation a while ago, letting it wash over her as she and Kylo had a quiet, private exchange through their bond.

_Please don’t hurt them, Ben._

_I told you that when I found Skywalker I would destroy him._

_Ben, please-_

_Did you know? Were you in on this as well?_

_No, I swear I had no idea-_

_I know. I can sense it._

_Please, Ben, don’t do anything-_

_Enough. ___

__Kylo threw up his mental shields, and Rey couldn’t reach him in the bond any longer._ _

__“Well, Rey,” Obi-Wan said, extending his blue arm to Rey, “Care to join me? I suppose, however, the correct title is ‘Empress’, but I was never much one for-”_ _

__“Obi-Wan.” Anakin’s face was etched with warning as he stopped his Master’s ramblings._ _

__Rey’s eyes flitted from Obi-Wan, to Anakin, to Luke and Leia, finally coming to rest on the face of Ben Solo, who was staring at her with eyes so piercing it hurt Rey to return the gaze. She tried reaching out in the bond again, but to no avail, and opened her mouth to protest that she was not going to leave Kylo Ren alone with his aging mother and uncle when Leia’s soft voice interrupted Rey’s plans._ _

__“It’s okay, Rey. You can go. We’ll be alright.”_ _

__Something in Leia’s tone was so genuine, so honest, that Rey believed her even if she didn’t want to, and without so much as a backwards glance, Rey nodded and allowed Obi-Wan to escort her into the hallway, feeling Ben’s eyes following her until the heavy door slammed shut between them._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! Back again with a ridiculous chapter. A few things I wanted to cover really quick:  
> 1\. I am so sorry for the lack of Reylo. I will make it up to you. I promise.  
> 2\. In legends, Anakin appeared to Leia, so that, to me, explains why she didn't suffer a heart attack when he showed up this chapter, and then obviously Luke has seen all sorts of Force ghosts, so no surprises there.  
> 3\. I chose to write ROTS Anakin and Obi-Wan because their banter is unmatched and I love Ewan McGregor. Also, I think that after GL put Hayden Christensen in ROTJ, Obi-Wan would have "chosen" his Force ghost to be his younger self to remember the good ol' days.  
> 4\. Finally, I know it might be a little rude to kick Rey out for the Skywalker Family Reunion (TM), but remember that in this fic Rey is truly no one, just like Obi-Wan was before he was...well, Obi-Wan, and I think he could be a really good mentor and guide to her and help her discover herself while Ben tries to mend his family bonds and the Skywalkers deal with their shit as a family unit.  
> As always, thank you for reading, and please let me know what you think! The kudos and comments inspire me to write like nothing else.


	11. Chapter 11

“The Naboo have always had a penchant for the finer things in life,” Obi - Wan sighed, glancing around at the ornate drapery adorning the massive windows. Rey bit her lip, unsure of how to respond. Luckily, the ghost of Jedi Master Obi - Wan Kenobi must have sensed her apprehension, for he turned to her with a kind smile and said, “I suppose we haven’t formally met. Hello there! I go by Obi - Wan. In life, I was a Jedi Knight, much like yourself.”

“I know who you are, Master Obi - Wan,” Rey admitted, “Master Luke told me about you. I’m Rey.”

“Well, Rey, I am very pleased to meet you. We have been watching your career with great interest.”

Once again, Rey found herself unsure of what to say back, and stared out of the window at the expansive gardens below, searching for something bright and intelligent to offer Obi - Wan. It proved to be unnecessary, however, as Obi - Wan seemed content to fill the silence with his own words.

“The Naboo are very proud people,” Obi - Wan explained, motioning for Rey to follow him down the hallway, “They never quite forgave themselves for Chancellor Palpatine’s betrayal. They were eager to make amends after the fall of the Empire. I imagine their young queen feels rather similarly now. It all comes back to Naboo, doesn’t it?”

“Emperor Palpatine was from Naboo?” Rey asked, embarrassed by her lack of knowledge at the galaxy’s history. It just hadn’t been useful on Jakku, so she never made any mental space for it - Unkar Plutt wasn’t going to trade her rations for a history lesson.

“Oh, yes,” Obi - Wan nodded sagely, “He was the Senator for Naboo when Padme - your very young Emperor’s grandmother - was Queen. Prior to the Clone Wars, he was elected Chancellor, and declared himself Emperor once all was said and done. He orchestrated the whole thing himself; he truly was in it for the long game. Rather impressive, if can you ignore the mass murder - I can’t. I regret deeply that the Jedi Council was unable to stop him.”

Obi - Wan hung his head momentarily, and Rey stared at her hands, feeling once again as if she were interfering on a private moment. She wondered how Ben was doing. Had he attacked his mother and uncle in just the short time since she and Obi - Wan had left? Could Anakin stop him if it came to that?

“I know what it’s like,” Obi - Wan said, suddenly and softly, startling Rey out of her reverie, “To feel so helpless. To be watching it happen but have no power to stop it.”

Rey met Obi - Wan’s blue eyes with her own hazel ones, understanding the meaning behind his cryptic words but unwilling to acquiesce. 

“He chose his path,” Rey insisted, “I chose mine. I renounced the Resistance, and the Jedi teachings. I belong to no Order, no Council. I’m just...Rey.”

“Rey, Empress of the First Order,” Obi - Wan clarified, his eyes full of worry.

“I don’t belong to the First Order,” Rey argued, “I belong to...him.”

The weight of Rey’s own words hit her like an unrestrained jump into hyperspace. What was she saying? She belonged to no one, and she especially didn’t belong to the Emperor. 

She pushed any thought of wishing to be his out of her mind.

“You believe you belong to the man who calls himself Kylo Ren,” Obi - Wan supplemented, and Rey didn’t respond, her mouth a thin, hard line, but her cheeks began turning red, “I prefer his birth name, of course. I was ever so honored when the princess named her firstborn after my desert persona. It felt as if life had come full circle. I was present for her birth, you see. And Luke’s, of course.”

Rey was distracted from her brooding about her role in the First Order by Obi - Wan’s casual mention of Luke and Leia. She realized, with a painful start, that she knew almost nothing of the Skywalker twins, despite idolizing and demonizing each of them as she had. Regret gnawed at her heart, threatening to break down the walls she had built since her defection from the Resistance.

“Rey,” Obi - Wan said, pausing to look at her critically, “I know you. You don’t belong to the dark side. Choosing between Ben and the Resistance - it’s tearing you apart.” Obi - Wan was right of course, but his omniscience in the Force annoyed Rey instead of placating her, and she found herself lashing out, upset and disoriented at his candid assessment of her.

“People keep telling they know me,” Rey responded angrily, her eyes brimming with tears, “I’m afraid no one does.”

_But I do. ___

__Ben’s voice rattled around her head as if he was standing next to her, but the words were nothing but a memory. She steeled herself against the unwanted swell of emotions building in her stomach._ _

__“Of course I know you,” Obi - Wan interrupted her thoughts of Ben, “You’re me. Or at least, I know what you’re going through, Rey. Please, let me help you.”_ _

__“I don’t need your help!” Rey replied, her voice high pitched and panicky._ _

__“You fear losing him,” Obi - Wan assessed, ignoring Rey’s protests, “But the path you’ve chosen will not save him. If you don’t tread lightly, Ben Solo could become lost to this world forever.”_ _

__***_ _

__What was it that blasted, senile old man had said before he all but dragged Rey out of the room behind him? _'I do love family reunions.' _____

____Well, as it turned out, Ben hated family reunions, and that was a heritable trait. The moment the door closed behind Obi - Wan and Rey, each present member of the Skywalker clan, corporeal or otherwise, chose a different corner of the room to stare at, and they had been engaging in this ridiculous feat of pettiness for several minutes before their patriarch, both the oldest and youngest member present, cleared his throat. None of his kin spared him a glance._ _ _ _

____Anakin appeared unfazed by the rude greeting bestowed upon him by his children and grandson, and instead crossed the length of the room to gaze out the window at the lake below. Ben couldn’t help but notice how his mother’s eyes followed Anakin’s blue feet across the carpet._ _ _ _

____Ben’s reaction to seeing his mother was...unexpected. The shock of being in the same room with her after all these years was almost too much to bear. He had thought that, when the moment came, he would simply kill her and end his suffering once and for all. Han Solo’s death, however, had been eating him alive for weeks, making him feel less than human, like the monster Rey insisted he was. Instead of strengthening his resolve, his father’s death had weakened it, and Ben was terrified that even an attempt on his mother’s life might tear him apart from the inside._ _ _ _

____But also...did he want Rey to be right? Did he want to be the kind of monster who killed both his mother and his father?_ _ _ _

____Could he kill his own mother?_ _ _ _

____“I wish Padme could be here,” Anakin said softly, his back to the other occupants of the grand room, “She would be so proud of all of you.”_ _ _ _

____Ben scoffed. What was there to be proud of? Her son - a disgraced ex Jedi; her daughter - a disgraced Senator turned war criminal. Even Ben himself, despite being Emperor of the First Order, was not worth his dead grandmother’s pride._ _ _ _

____“Don’t talk about her,” Leia said suddenly, her voice tight, and Ben found he couldn’t tear his eyes from her pained expression, “Don’t talk about her, you have no right-”_ _ _ _

____“Luke,” Anakin pleaded, his desperation palpable, “Please, son…”_ _ _ _

____Luke turned to his father for the first time since he appeared in the room, looking for all the world like a nineteen year old farmer fresh off the moisture fields of Tatooine. The absurdity of the situation was not lost on Ben._ _ _ _

____“Leia,” Luke began lightly, making a valiant effort to peacekeep between his father and sister, but Leia was having none of it._ _ _ _

____“Don’t you understand!” Leia cried, and Ben was startled by her tone and volume. “This is all his fault,” Leia pointed to Anakin, his face crestfallen, “And he thrust the same fate on my son! On Ben! He’s done nothing but cause ruin and chaos, and you stand there having forgiven him like it's nothing!”_ _ _ _

____“Leia, you have no idea how I wish I could turn back time! Spare you all from my weakness! It is my greatest regret, to have caused so much pain and suffering for all of you.” Anakin walked towards them now, his features contorted in pain, but Leia just raised a hand to stop her father in his tracks. Disgust was written, plain and simple, on her aged countenance._ _ _ _

____“Leia, you can’t be so naive!”_ _ _ _

____Luke’s outburst took everyone in the room by surprise. The old Master Jedi looked from his father, to his sister, to his nephew before settling his pale blue eyes on the face of Ben’s mother._ _ _ _

____“We all - Ben included - played a role in creating this disaster. Leia, you and Han sent him away. You let fear rule your heart. In a moment of doubt, I thought I could...strike him down. End all of the suffering. When I looked at him, I didn’t see your son - I saw Vader.”_ _ _ _

____Ben made eye contact with Anakin Skywalker across the room. The ghost’s eyes were sad, but kind, and Ben found the scrutiny overwhelming. He was forced to look away as Luke continued monologuing to Leia._ _ _ _

____“Our father is no more complicit in this than you and I. If you hate our father for what he did as Vader, fine, I won’t fault you for that. But you forgave me for the role I played - you’ve forgiven Han, and Ben. How can you deny Father that forgiveness as well - not for the crimes he committed as Vader, but for the influence those crimes had on your son?”_ _ _ _

____“Don’t lecture me about forgiveness!” Leia retorted angrily, her eyes flashing a dangerous shade of dark brown, “For as long as I live, until the day I die, I’ll never forgive myself for what I did to my son. I still love Ben despite all the evil he’s committed - no matter how little sense it makes or how wrong it may be. I love him even though he killed his father, and it’s destroying me!”_ _ _ _

____Leia’s tears were unbridled now, cascading down her cheeks like rainwater. Ben’s heart ached at the sight of his mother’s sorrow, knowing that it was his doing. He truly was a monster._ _ _ _

____“So don’t you command me to forgive Anakin Skywalker,” Leia finished, her voice thick, Luke looking properly chastised, his head hung, “Not when I can’t even forgive myself!”_ _ _ _

____This was too much for Ben. He still stood, frozen, at the front of the room, exactly where Luke had let go of him with the Force after Rey had stopped him from killing his family in a fit of rage. As his thoughts turned to Rey, he found himself...missing her? Wishing she was at his side? Without her, he felt lost and confused, as if he was missing a piece of his soul. She grounded him, kept him alive, and he found himself wondering how much longer he could face his mother, uncle, and grandfather without her._ _ _ _

____Oh, how he wished she were here._ _ _ _

____Neither Anakin nor Luke afforded Leia’s confession a response, but to Ben’s utmost surprise, without warning, Leia grabbed her cane and hobbled quickly over to stand in front of Ben, ignoring the other men in the room, who were gazing at her with unmasked alarm._ _ _ _

____Ben was rendered immobile by the sight of his mother standing just inches in front of him. He had forgotten how small she was. Her hair had a few more streaks of grey than he remembered, and the lines around her eyes and mouth were more pronounced than they had been a few years ago. He recognized the Alderranian mourning braids adorning her head._ _ _ _

____His mother reached out a hand and placed it on his cheek, and he felt himself leaning into her touch, out of necessity, he told himself, due to her short stature._ _ _ _

____“My Ben,” Leia breathed, and he moved only his eyes, drinking in the face of his mother, one of only two women in the entire galaxy who could wound his soul in every imaginable way possible but still leave him craving her love, “Are you in there?”_ _ _ _

____***_ _ _ _

____“I feel so alone.”_ _ _ _

____After Obi - Wan revealed to Rey that the path she had chosen was sure to lead to destruction for both herself and Ben, it hadn’t taken Rey long to pour her heart out to the ghost of her master’s master, the tears streaming inelegantly down her face as she confessed her conflict, Ben’s conflict, her guilt at her abandonment of Luke and Leia, as well as her fear of pushing Ben into the light before his time and losing him forever._ _ _ _

____“You and the young Solo have a very special bond,” Obi - Wan pondered aloud from his spot next to her on a bench in an abandoned hallway of the palace, “It is unlike the usual bonds of teacher and student, or even brother Jedi. I have my suspicions as to the true nature of your connection, but they are nothing more than hypotheses, and are no help to you now. I imagine, however, that you are never truly alone.”_ _ _ _

____Rey expected to feel better at Obi - Wan’s estimations, but she didn’t._ _ _ _

____“What am I to do?” Rey asked. “I feel trapped. I could never abandon him, but the longer I stay with the First Order, the further he strays. And I’ve done...committed acts in violation of the Jedi Code. I’m no more worthy to return to the light than he is,” Rey realized mournfully, remembering her painful conversation with Ben several nights ago in his rooms on the Finalizer._ ___

___“The Jedi didn’t have all the right answers, dear Rey,” Obi - Wan admitted humbly, “If they did, Anakin wouldn’t have suffered as he did, and neither would Ben, and neither would you. I used to think my Master Qui - Gon was too maverick for his blatant dismissal of many of the Jedi teachings, but the longer I am one with the Living Force, the more I think he was right.”_ _ _

________Rey had no idea who this Master Qui - Gon character was, but he sounded great to Rey. She didn’t harbor any love for the Jedi Order at the moment._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“What is my place in all this?” Rey asked Obi - Wan desperately. “I thought I knew. Now I fear I’ll never find it.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“You are wise and strong, Rey,” Obi - Wan replied without truly answering her question, taking her hands in his and allowing her a kind smile, “In the event that no one has ever told you, I am very proud of you. You have become a far better Jedi than I could have ever hoped to be, in my previous life or now. I cannot tell your place - I can only promise that you have one.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Whereas just a few minutes previously, Rey had been decrying Obi - Wan’s offers of assistance, she now gravitated towards him, finally only now understanding the gravity of the situation in which she had found herself. Rey looked deep into Obi - Wan’s translucent eyes._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Help me, Master Obi - Wan. You’re my only hope.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________***_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“The Finalizer is grounded right outside the Royal Palace. If we’re going to strike, we have to do it now.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Poe stood in the cockpit of the Falcon, deep in the belly of the Royal Hangar, clustered with Connix and Finn around a datapad confirming the worst - Kylo Ren was currently in the audience of General Organa and Master Skywalker. Chewie sat in the pilot’s seat, trying to repair some of the controls, and R2-D2 and C-3PO stood dutifully behind him, offering help where they could._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“This seems risky, Poe,” Connix said apprehensively, gazing at the report from one of the spies stationed above ground._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Hold on, this whole operation was your idea!” Finn protested._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“I know,” Connix admitted, “But I’m worried this isn’t what the general would want.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“We have the chance to take out the flagship of the First Order and possibly capture and detain Kylo Ren himself,” Poe exclaimed, “Plus, I don’t trust him anywhere near the general for any longer than strictly necessary. I say we do it.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Chewie roared his agreement, shaking his head at the thought of an injured - or worse - princess._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Me too,” Finn agreed, and Connix glanced back and forth between the three of them, her face drawn with worry, before she nodded her agreement._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“I’ll alert our contact on the Finalizer,” Poe instructed, “Chewie, take the droids and find Leia. We don’t want her or Skywalker to become collateral damage.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Chewie grunted in understanding, grabbing his bowcaster and shoving the droids out of the cockpit, ducking his head as he followed them down the ramp._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Finn, send a message to the Queen. Connix, prepare for a ground invasion of the castle.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Before his friends and fellow soldiers could take their leave to carry out this haphazardly planned mission, Finn stopped Poe and Connix, placing a hand on each of their shoulders and looking each one of them deep in the eyes._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“One condition. Do whatever you want with Kylo Ren, I honestly couldn’t care less - but the Empress gets brought back alive, no matter the cost.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________***_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Ben Solo was ten years old again, standing before his mother in front of Luke’s Jedi Temple as she bade him goodbye, his uncle watching from a distance. His dad hadn’t been able to make it that day - he was off on another illicit sojourn with Chewie, one that his mother would no doubt turn a blind eye to once Han was home - so she was accompanied by C-3PO, who had wandered over to where R2 - D2 stood next to Luke to say hello. At the ripe young age of ten, Ben towered over his mother, and he leaned down so she could kiss his forehead and cup his cheek with her small hand._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Ben blinked, and the Temple disappeared, replaced by the palace walls of Theed - but his mother still stood before him, the look in her eyes so similar to that of his memory, the warmth of her hand the same, and Ben suddenly found himself having the strength to say what he had not been brave enough to all those years ago._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Mom,” Ben whispered, feeling nothing like the Emperor he claimed to be, “I don’t - I don’t want to go.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________His mother’s eyes glistened with tears. Unseen by Ben, behind Leia, Luke and Anakin exchanged a secret glance._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Before Leia could respond, however, the ground beneath them shook as explosions shattered the large glass windows of the palace. There was chaos and shouting out in the hallway, and Ben whipped around toward the door as it burst open and Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2 came rushing in._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Princess!” C-3PO cried, “Master Luke! We must go now, to the Falcon - oh, my, look R2 - Master Ben!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________The arrival of his father’s co - pilot as well as the fugitive droids snapped Kylo out of his fantasy daydream of a happy life with a happy family. Here he had been, listening to his mother and her brother bicker like children while the ghost of his grandfather spun them all a sob story of regret, and the whole time, the Resistance had been on this very planet, hiding underneath his nose, taunting him as he revisited old childhood traumas._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He needed to find Rey, wherever she was, and get her out of there, immediately. She was alone with a Force ghost and unarmed. He had no idea where that blast came from - but if she had suffered so much as a scratch, if she was injured at all, if even one drop of her precious blood had been shed, he would burn Theed to the ground._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Kylo stuck out a gloved hand and summoned the lightsabers from Luke’s belt. His crossguard went careening across the room, but Luke caught Anakin’s saber before it could slip from his grasp. Kylo snarled as another explosion shook the walls around them._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“If it’s alright with you,” Luke said conversationally, “I’d like to hold onto this one.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Kylo turned, his lightsaber ignited, to find that Chewie had already escaped with his mother. He was faced with what should have been an impossible decision, but wasn’t - follow Chewie and General Organa to the Resistance and end this war once and for all, or locate Rey and ensure she was still breathing._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He would choose Rey, every time._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________***_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Ben!” Rey screamed, pushing through the smoke from the blast that had rattled her spine and sent her tumbling down a flight of stairs._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________She called his name again and again, coughing and sputtering, as Obi - Wan rushed alongside her, impervious to the effects of the tainted air around them. Every hallway in the blasted castle looked the same - damn it to hell! She cursed her velvet heels as she tripped for the umpteenth time over nothing, and she paused to tear them off, casting them out a broken window, running now, still yelling out for Ben._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Rey,” Obi - Wan said, and she was loath to stop in her search, “Rey, this is where I leave you. These are your first steps. May the Force be with you.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_________These are your first steps. ____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________The words were oddly familiar, but as Obi - Wan disappeared into the smoke surrounding them, she could spare no thought for his mysterious parting words - she had to find Ben. Now._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Ben found her first, however, running alongside Hux, followed by a squadron of Stormtroopers, the mask of Kylo Ren firmly in place upon his head. Rey was surprised by this; she was suddenly overwhelmingly apprehensive as to what had transpired in that room with the Skywalkers. Where were Luke and Leia?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________When Kylo and Hux reached her, Kylo grabbed her forcefully by her bicep and began dragging her along, barefoot, in his wake, clearly eager to put as much space as possible between themselves and the palace. A blaster shot whizzed by Rey’s head. They were being chased._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“What happened? Ben? Where are we going?” Rey asked, struggling to keep up, but it was Hux who answered, much to Rey’s annoyance._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“It appears as if you were correct, Empress - the rebel scum were hiding on Naboo. They blew up the Finalizer, but in their...enthusiasm, they took out part of the castle. A transport is waiting, if you could hurry, Your Majesty.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

___________Weren’t you on the Finalizer? _Rey thought, glancing over at Hux suspiciously, _How did you make it out alive? ______ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Ben?” Rey tried again, ignoring the uneasy feeling creeping up inside her ribcage. This wasn’t going according to plan at all. They were never supposed to return to the First Order._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Now is not the time for questions,” the modulated voice of Kylo Ren intoned, and Rey blushed furiously at the admonition._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Another blaster shot flew dangerously close to her head, and she craned her neck around to see its origin, restrained by Kylo’s firm grip on her upper arm, tugging her along faster than her bare feet could move._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________She couldn’t see much past the wall of Stormtroopers, but what she heard next caused her to stop still in her tracks._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Rey!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“REY!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Finn and Poe were running down the hallway, calling her name, and as she felt Kylo seize up next to her, she couldn’t help but think that they were running towards their inevitable deaths._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's what you missed this week on _Keeping Up with the Skywalkers! ___


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had two working titles for this chapter while I was writing I wanted to share with y'all:  
> 1\. The One Where Poe Dameron Makes a Mess  
> 2\. The One Where This Fic Earns Its M Rating

She had heard once, from a traveller on Jakku long ago, that there were moments in one’s life so poignant that it felt as if, just for that second, the galaxy stopped moving. The traveller had told her that, during these moments, the universe went eerily quiet, and the ever shifting cosmos grinded to a halt just long enough to ensure that you remembered that moment in time forever.

Rey’s world stopped moving the instant Finn and Poe turned the corner and began sprinting down the hallway towards her where she stood, frozen in place, Kylo’s big hand covering her entire bicep.

As quickly as the galaxy stopped moving it started up again, in such a flurry of chaos and screaming and blind panic that Rey wondered idly if she was going into sensory overdrive. She was only jolted back into motion herself when she heard Kylo yell to the Stormtroopers,

“Hold your fire! Leave them to me.”

He reached out a hand and froze Finn and Poe in their tracks, nearly exactly as Luke had done to Kylo and Rey not an hour before. Kylo kept his head turned towards the Resistance fighters as he addressed Hux.

“General, take the Empress to the rendezvous point. I will meet you once I have disposed of the rebel scum.”

No. What? The Stormtroopers began moving again, and Kylo let go of her arm, advancing on Finn and Poe like a spider stalking a fly caught in its web. Hux tugged on her elbow.

“Come, now, Empress, we haven’t much time-”

“No!” Rey screamed, and she tore away from Hux’s grasp, moving to place herself between Kylo’s lightsaber hilt and her immobile friends. It struck her suddenly how similar this was to the failed extraction mission on the Finalizer.

Her daring move had worked, however - she broke Kylo’s concentration long enough for Poe and Finn to wriggle free, and she felt their blasters aimed at her back, knowing they would never fire while she still stood in front of Kylo like some type of miniscule human shield.

“Hux!” Kylo roared, not sparing a masked glance for Rey, and Hux materialized next to her as if out of thin air. Rey screeched in surprise and fury as Hux - with far more strength than she would have ever imagined the scrawny general possessed - picked her up and half carried, half dragged Rey, kicking and screaming, down the hallway. She pounded on his back and even tried biting one of his hands before she remembered - what the kriff am I doing, I have the Force - but the moment that thought materialized in her head, she felt Kylo slip into her consciousness, past her latent mental shields.

_Sorry, sweetheart._

Then the galaxy went black.

***

This was the second time in just a period of a few short weeks that Finn watched as Rey was carried unconscious, like a bride over a threshold, by a First Order officer. It wasn’t any easier this time around.

“Rey!” Finn screamed, as he was so inclined to do in situations like these, and Poe reached out and grabbed his arm, shaking his head. Finn watched helplessly at Hux’s retreating back, flanked by Stormtroopers and cradling Rey’s unconscious body.

“First we take out this asshole,” Poe hissed, his blaster aimed straight for the heart Kylo Ren lacked, “Then we save Rey.”

“What did I ever do to you, Dameron,” Ren asked lazily, his laser sword screaming to life, turning the marble floor red beneath them, “To deserve such a hurtful nickname?”

“Ah, I can think of a few things,” Poe muttered menacingly.

It wasn’t hard for Finn to understand Ren’s tactics - he was toying with them, buying time for Hux to ferry Rey as far from the exploding castle as possible. He supposed, in anyone else, such devotion to her safety might be endearing. In Ren, it was disgusting.

“And you, FN-2187,” Ren continued, his obsidian helmet cocked to the side as he surveyed Finn from behind the slits in his armor, “You killed Captain Phasma.”

“One of my proudest moments yet,” Finn spat back. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Poe shot him a look of admiration for his comeback, and feeling emboldened by this gesture, he added, “But my name is Finn.”

“And soon you’ll be dead,” Ren finished, offering up a simple shrug, and as he lengthened his stride and reached out his hand-

“Now!”

Finn and Poe opened fire and began running back the way they came, dodging the blaster shots that Ren kept ricocheting back in their direction. Ren was slower, having to use the Force to divert blaster shots and wearing that ridiculous heavy armor of his, but he was advancing steadily, and Finn knew that once he got close enough, they were good as dead. A blaster was no match against a lightsaber.

Kylo Ren chased them up a spiraling flight of stairs and down a narrow corridor.

“Do you ever wonder,” Poe yelled over his shoulder, “How we escaped the Finalizer?”

“Poe!” Finn groaned. This was so not the time.

Ren’s only response was to direct a blaster shot right back at Poe - and it hit him, square in the tricep. Poe grunted in pain as he fell to the ground. Finn nearly ran past him, had to bend down to drag him up, when Ren was over them, lightsaber crackling - 

“Well?” Poe asked, his breaths ragged and labored, and Finn fired a desperate shot at Ren, who froze it in the air between them. Ren stared at them, unmoving. Finn realized something horrible - if Poe revealed Rey’s infidelity, Ren’s goodwill with her might run short. They could be putting her in horrible danger.

“You’d wanna know,” Poe moaned, clutching at his injured arm and scrambling slowly away from the business end of Ren’s saber, “It’s a good story.”

“Too bad you won’t be around to tell it,” Kylo Ren said as he raised his weapon high in the air.

***

Deep beneath the battle, in the bowels of the Royal Palace, a princess and a queen stood facing each other in front of an ancient Corellian YT model freighter.

“Your Majesty,” Princess Leia said, her eyes mournful and her face lined with regret, “I am so sorry for the destruction caused here today. If I had known my fighters were going to do this-”

“I do not blame you, General,” Queen Baize responded firmly, “Nor do I blame your soldiers. This is war.”

“And I’ve brought it to your planet.”

As if to emphasize the general’s point, another blast shook the walls of the palace. The young queen grasped Leia’s shoulders, holding her steady.

“Naboo has never shied away from conflict,” Queen Baize stated once the throes of the explosion had subsided, “I do not plan on breaking that tradition. For nine hundred years we have been a proud example of democracy for the galaxy. We will be strong, as our beloved Queen Padme was many moons ago. We will do what is right.”

“Your people…”

“Are brave, General. They harbor no love for the First Order. They will understand.”

Suddenly, Luke and Connix came sprinting into the hangar, lightsaber and blaster at the ready. It brought Leia an inexplicable feeling of comfort to see her brother wielding the weapon of a Jedi once again.

“Leia,” Luke gasped, and she almost smiled when she noticed how out of shape he was, “The time is now. We must go.”

“Do we have everyone?” Leia asked, turning to Connix, who shook her blonde head.

“Finn and Poe never made it back,” the young lieutenant answered quietly. Leia nodded tersely and jerked her head towards the ramp of the Falcon. Connix ran to obey the order, jumping into the pilot seat next to Chewbacca.

Leia turned to gaze at Luke. She knew they were running out of time, she knew there wasn’t a moment to spare - 

“My son,” Leia whispered, and she was transported back to another day, several years ago, when she had stood in front of her brother and asked the same question, “My son...Luke, where is my son?”

Luke shook his head, eyes downcast. It was the same answer he had given her all those years ago.

***

Iellal Baize was not the youngest monarch ever elected, but it was times such as this - when she watched a woman with a son twice her age mourn his absence while waging a galactic war against him - that she wondered if the Naboo were so right in electing its children to lead. There was a certain grace that came with the experience of age, and Iellal wished she could borrow some of Princess Leia Organa’s; she seemed to be teeming with it.

Growing up, Iellal had been told the same lie as most school children regarding Leia Organa and Han Solo’s son - that he died in the massacre at Luke Skywalker’s Temple, slain by the former Jedi who fashioned himself Kylo Ren. Her ascendency to the throne of Naboo bore many heavy burdens, one of them knowledge; among that knowledge was the truth that Ben Solo and Kylo Ren were one in the same.

 _Even so, all lies are rooted in truth_ , Iellal thought, _Especially the most painful ones_.

As Iellal bid goodbye to the Skywalker twins, she thought of the mysterious Empress, only a few years her elder, and how she served as the mouthpiece of Leia’s son during their extremely short visit to Naboo. Little was known, even by Naboo’s monarch, of the Empress. There were whispers she had been born a scavenger on a far away desert planet. Rumours circulated that she had given the Emperor an ugly scar during the Battle of Starkiller Base. It was said that she had been the Resistance’s pride and joy, the prize Jedi of the New Republic, who defected to the First Order after falling in love with the man they called ‘Jedi Killer’.

_All lies are rooted in truth._

“General!” Iellal called, and the twins stopped in the ascent up the ramp, Leia turning, surprise written plainly on her beautiful face.

Iellal broke into a wicked grin, one most unbecoming of a queen, and she pulled two blasters from inside her robes.

“May the Force be with you,” she yelled, and she ran towards the chaos of the battle raging above, preparing to take her place with her people, for in Naboo, the queen fought on the front lines. As she sprinted, she heard Leia’s voice return the wish.

“Always, Your Majesty.”

***

Just as Kylo Ren was about to end the lives of the two unfortunate miscreants splayed out on the floor in front of him, the galaxy erupted in a thunderous roar of a blast that shot him backwards through the air and he landed, hard, on his back. The marble between him and the rebel scum was cracked, revealing a dark abyss below, and Kylo scrambled to his feet at the same time the traitor hauled Dameron to an upright position. The entire western wall was blown apart - he had a clear view of the snow capped mountains off in the distance.

“You already know,” Dameron goaded from across the crevice, clutching the wound in his arm, “Don’t you?”

“Poe,” FN - 2187 yelled, “Stop!”

Before Kylo could propel himself across the cracked marble and end this foolishness once and for all, he was nearly knocked over again by a strong rush of wind from the gaping hole in the side of the castle.

The Millennium Falcon hovered, the bay door opened, no less than thirty feet from him.

“Poe, come on!” FN - 2187 cried, and he began dragging Dameron towards the extended ramp, where a blonde Resistance girl stood, shouting, her hand outstretched.

His mother was on that ship.

He was frozen in shock as he watched Dameron and the traitor leap onto the ramp, but before they disappeared into the belly of that wretched ship, Dameron turned to Kylo.

“Ask her,” Dameron yelled over the thrum of the engine, “See what she tells you.”

Kylo ran to the edge of the blast damage, but he was too late - he watched as the Millenium Falcon took off, speeding away from the palace.

***

Rey jolted awake and screamed.

A masked figure knelt before her in a dark room. She had been here before.

Except...she hadn’t. For one, she wasn’t shackled to a torture rack. She was now sitting upright on a cot of some sorts. The room wasn’t the circular interrogation hall of Starkiller Base - she was in a small dorm on a transport of some type that, judging from the viewport, was hurtling through hyperspace.

“Where are we?” Rey asked the mask of Kylo Ren.

“The Night Buzzard. The ship of the Knights of Ren.”

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

Rey didn’t like that answer at all, but she had a more pressing bone to pick with Kylo Ren.

“You knocked me out,” she said pointedly, trying not to let her hurt feelings show through the coolness of her tone.

“You weren’t cooperating.”

“I don’t take orders from you. I don’t take orders from anyone.”

“Oh really? Not even the Resistance?”

The Resistance. What had happened to the Resistance?

“Where are they?”

“The murderers, traitors, and thieves you call friends? You’ll be relieved to hear I have no idea.”

She was relieved, but there were two other people...but if something happened to them she would’ve felt it, but she had to ask - 

“Your mother,” Rey whispered, even though she already knew the answer; she needed to hear the words from his mouth, “Your uncle?”  
Kylo stilled before standing, towering over Rey in the tiny room.

“Alive.”

She let out a breath she hadn’t known she had been holding. She swung her legs off the bed and walked over to where he stood, still as a statue in the corner of the room. She reached up and released the latches on his helmet. He dipped his head and allowed her to pull it off him. She hugged the mask to her chest as she gazed upon his drawn features.

Kylo looked as if he had aged a lifetime since the last time she saw his bare face. His eyes were red and puffy, his face pale and sallow, and his lip was cracked and bleeding. She felt the sudden urge to cradle him in her arms like a small child.

Instead, he fell to his knees in front of her and placed his head on her abdomen, his forehead resting at her navel. He hooked his huge hands around the back of her thighs, drawing her closer to him, and she dropped his mask, the metal clanging on the floor, before allowing her hands to fall to his shoulders. 

“Promise me,” he mumbled against the velvet of her gown, and she felt heat coiling in her core where his mouth moved, a thin barrier of felt between his lips and her skin, “You’ll never take up arms against me again. Please, fight only alongside me from now on, my Empress, my equal.”

Rey bit the inside of her lip and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as Kylo slid his gloved hands up her legs so they rested in the junction where her legs met her bottom, his long fingers curling to the inside of her thighs. Even through the layers of skirts, her skin burned beneath his touch. She repressed a moan, trying desperately not to embarrass herself in this moment.

“Let the past die,” he breathed into the soft skin of her inner wrist, trailing delicate kisses up her forearm, leaving a faint trail of blood from the cut on his lip after every kiss, “Kill it, if you have to.”

 _You had a chance to kill both our pasts today_ , Rey thought to herself as she ran her hands through his hair and tugged softly, eliciting a terse groan from Kylo, _Why didn’t you?_

“All sins forgiven,” he continued as he moved his head to rest in the valley between her breasts, “All betrayals forgotten. Just please, Rey, don’t make me go into battle opposite you. I don’t...I couldn’t...I would rather die.”

 _He knows_ , Rey realized suddenly, painfully. Kylo knew she had helped the Resistance - in what capacity, she was unsure - perhaps he knew everything, perhaps he had only an inkling. He knew she had been disloyal to him, had broken the vows she had made to him, and he offered her a chance at redemption even as he prostrated himself in front of her.

She had thought that the hardest choice had been made on the Supremacy, and that everything after that would be easy, but this turmoil, this conflict, it never ended. She was being torn apart. She wished to be free of this pain.

Was it really so much to promise this man, who had given her the galaxy, her sword?

 _I never wanted the whole galaxy_ , Rey thought secretly, _I only ever wanted you_.

“Please,” Kylo rasped.

What would it profit a man to gain the galaxy but lose his soul?

“Yes,” Rey whispered into his hair, and he froze, as if unwilling to believe she was committing herself to him.

Without warning, he picked Rey up, cupping her ass, and he dropped her gently onto the bed she had woken up on just a few moments before. Her skirts flew up past her knees, and Kylo knelt at her feet, gazing down at her with a pained expression.

“Let me - Force, Rey, please can I -”

“Yes,” Rey breathed, “Anything, Ben, please -”

But her words died in her mouth as Kylo pushed her skirts up her thigh so they pooled around her hips, grabbed each of her ankles, and pulled her legs apart. He stared at her bare legs hungrily and she couldn’t help but notice that his eyes glanced in between her thighs for an extra beat. Her arousal was building so quickly it was embarrassing, and she was about to beg Kylo to do something about it when he began kissing the inside of her knee, trailing his mouth down the expanse of her inner thigh before starting fresh on her other leg, following the same pattern. She was squirming on the bed, reaching for his face and hair, her eyes screwed shut against the barrage of new sensations.

Kylo grabbed Rey around her waist and, in one swift movement - Force he was so unbelievably strong, how was that even possible - flipped her over so she was straddling his groin and he was lying on his back on the bed, and as she kissed him, she felt him harden beneath her. She grazed her teeth along his lower lip and smiled into his mouth when he groaned in response. Her underwear was already damp with arousal and she instinctively rocked her hips against his erection, granting herself the friction she so desperately craved, eliciting another moan from Kylo’s plush lips. His hands trailed up her ribcage to her upper back, where he began fumbling with the clasps on her dress. After a moment, during which Rey was no help at all as she kissed her way along his jaw, he released the last clasp and the bodice fell from her shoulders, meeting the rest of the dress somewhere around her midsection.

Kylo’s eyes were blown wide with lust as he ripped off his gloves and palmed each of her small breasts in his massive hands. She cried out as the pads of his thumbs brushed against her hard nipples.

“Every day,” Kylo confessed, “Every day since you appeared in the training room, without a stitch of clothing on and dripping wet, I’ve thought of these and how it would feel-”

But before he could tell her what he had imagined, he tried to pull the offending fabric of her gown out of the way, but when he met resistance around her shoulders he grunted in frustration and ripped the dress at its waistline before sliding the clothing over her head and discarding it on the floor beneath them.

Now Rey sat on top of his crotch wearing nothing but thin, standard issue panties. She thought it would be uncomfortable to be so exposed and vulnerable, with Kylo fully clothed and her one breath away from naked, but the look on Kylo’s face set her at ease and made her feel more in control than she had ever previously in her life. Kylo looked as if he couldn’t believe his good luck, and Rey basked in his admiration. 

Her unearned confidence subsided quickly as Kylo canted his hips to meet her center, and even as she responded in kind, she felt apprehension replace arousal, and she placed a hand on Kylo’s chest, willing him to stop. He froze, his dark eyes unreadable behind the curtain of his hair.

“I’ve never -” Rey began, and she felt tears of embarrassment prickle in her eyes. She wasn’t beautiful or attractive enough for this. She was too scrawny, her bones stuck out in all the wrong places, her breasts too small, and on top of all that, no man had ever desired her body - she had no idea how to pleasure Kylo this way. She was certain that women had been throwing themselves at the Master of the Knights of Ren for years while she sat, alone and undesirable on Jakku, and she was sure to embarrass herself if she made any lame attempt at seducing him.

“I’ve never done - Oh, please don’t make me say it,” Rey whispered, mortified as a tear ran down her cheek, staring down at her hands while she awaited Kylo's judgement. It never came. Instead, he took her hands in his own, more gentle than Rey would’ve ever dreamed him capable in the heat of such a moment, and he brushed the tear from her cheek as he turned her chin to look at him.

“There’s never been another,” Kylo admitted, his voice strained, “I’ve never taken a lover, there was never - I understand.”

Rey’s heart sang and she swooped in to kiss Kylo firmly on the mouth, his hands pulling her closer so their chests were flush. She shuddered as he dragged his calloused fingers over her spine while she rolled her hips desperately against his hardened length, quickly becoming annoyed with the layers of fabric separating them.

As if he had read her mind - but perhaps she was projecting through their Force bond - Kylo shifted her off his middle so he could whip his robes over his head. She jumped on him eagerly, pulling his black undershirt off to reveal the wide expanse of his muscular torso and oh - she could get used to this.

But before she could properly admire his body, so firm and sculpted it appeared as if it had been carved out of marble, Kylo flipped her over again - now she was the one lying on her back, and he was perched between her thighs, his hands on each of her knees, splaying her legs open in front of him. He stared at her greedily, his eyes raking up and down her body, lingering on her bare breasts and at the junction of her thighs, and just as she thought she couldn’t stand it any longer, she would surely die if he made her wait - 

Kylo ducked his head and planted a long, closed mouth kiss right on top of the crotch of her panties. Rey saw stars. She was going to burst into flames right here on this cot, she was sure of it.

“If it pleases the Empress,” Kylo murmured into the thin cloth, his fingers pulling lightly against the waistband, Rey trying her best not to writhe and whimper beneath his mouth, “May I?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry 'bout it ;)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: NSFW right at the beginning of the chapter.  
> Also, I'll grovel for your forgiveness regarding my extended unplanned hiatus in the end notes. <3

“You may.”

Rey’s whisper of affirmation and acceptance caused Kylo’s breath to catch in his chest; she was literally breathtaking, her ripped gown falling off of her, her nipples hard on her pert breasts, and only a thin strip of cloth separating him from her. She flashed him a nervous smile.  


He hooked his fingers around the waistband of her panties and pulled hard, dragging the thin fabric past her ankles and discarding it somewhere on the ground beneath them. The sight of her unencumbered center caused him to curse out loud. She would literally be the death of him, perhaps in every possible sense. He gazed greedily at her nakedness, feeling his already hard erection become impossibly harder, and he pressed his hands against the inside of her knees, opening up her legs even further. Rey raked her fingernails over his bare back, causing him to let out his breath in a pained hiss.

“Ben,” Rey whimpered, and Kylo was too overcome with equal parts awe and lust to chastise her for using his given name, “Ben, please-”

In response to her begging, Kylo bent down and began licking hungrily at the warmth between her legs. He felt Rey tense her abdomen for a briefest moment before relaxing and wrapping her fingers in his hair, pulling the strands just hard enough that he moaned against her soft skin. She tasted a little sweet, a little musky, the lingering scent of dried sweat from their flight from the palace etched into her skin, but Kylo didn’t care. He cleaned her up with his tongue and he savored every second of it. Her contented sighs and nonsensical babbling was all the motivation he needed to continue his ministrations. He couldn’t shake the lingering feeling that, once again, he was worshipping at the altar of a goddess.

As she writhed beneath him, Kylo got a wicked idea. He lifted his head for a moment to gaze at Rey’s face. She was stunning - her hair had fallen out of its updo and framed her face like a dark halo, her cheeks were pink, her eyes were closed and each breath she took was more uneven than the last. The absence of his mouth on her body caused her to pull on his hair even harder, her eyes snapping open, bright with arousal, as she begged, “Ben, please, don’t tease me-”

Kylo slid a long finger inside her.

“I’d be much too frightened to tease the Empress,” Kylo murmured, Rey’s labored breathing and little moans punctuating the thick air.

As he pumped his finger in and out, he lowered his head once more and lapped at her clit. She was so warm and tight around his finger, he was going mad imagining how it would feel if they ever consummated their bond. He barely came up to breathe, drinking her in, intoxicating himself on the poison and pleasure of it all. He reached his other hand up, blindly groping for her chest, and Rey caught his hand and guided him to one of her perfect breasts. He rolled her nipple between his fingers and relished the shriek she gave him in return.

She was rocking her hips against his hand and mouth now, practically screaming, “Ben don’t stop, I’m so close, please -”

“Finish for me, _cyar’ika_ , come for me, please-”

Rey did just that, breaking on a sob, her climax coming in waves. When she stilled, Kylo placed a final open mouthed kiss between her legs before scaling the length of her slim frame to kiss her on her mouth.

***

“I am not going in there.”

The Knights of Ren stood outside their Master’s quarters, trying, and failing, to ignore the rather conspicuous cacophony of sounds coming from within.

“You don’t have to go in,” Ushar turned to address his brother, Cardo, “You just have to knock.”

“Yeah, and then you all will go running off and leave me here to fend for myself.”

“We would never do that, brother,” Ap’lek reassured Cardo unconvincingly.

“Yes, you literally would. You have before,” Cardo complained.

“Someone go fetch Kuruk, make him do it,” Trudgen suggested.

“What, then we’ll all perish planetside because our pilot got skewered by our Master?” Vicrul asked.

“I would rather crash the ship than interrupt whatever’s going on in there.” Cardo shuddered.

“Let’s go get Hux. I wouldn’t mind seeing him skewered.”

“Rey is nice,” Ushar reminded Cardo, “She won’t let our Master kill you.”

“The _Empress_ ,” Vicrul stressed, “is -”

“Currently indisposed,” Ap’lek finished with a crooked smile, “She might be the one to kill you, Cardo.”

“Hey, listen, it’s quiet!”

“Cardo, do it now.”

“Knock now!”

“Now or never, mate.”

“I hate you guys,” Cardo groaned, and he squeezed up his eyes beneath his helmet and knocked, noticing how his brothers all stepped out of sight on the right side of the door.

There was a painfully long moment of deafening silence, some shuffling from within, then Kylo Ren stuck his head out the door, looking murderous.

“What?” Ren spat.

Cardo spoke quickly. “You instructed us to alert you when we had entered Dantooine’s planet space. Well, we’re here, Master.”

Kylo ran his hand over his face. “Thank you, Cardo. Is that all?”

“Yes, my Master.”

“Kuruk knows where to touch down. Tell Hux he can make himself busy for a few hours. We have an errand to run before we can deliver him back to hyperspace.”

Vicrul stepped out from the shadows, followed by his cowardly companions. Kylo did not react to their appearance save a reddening of his ears, barely visible beneath his dark hair, and rolling his eyes.

“Are we going to the Cave, Master?” Vicrul asked.

“We are,” Kylo responded with a lopsided smile, “The Empress has need for a lightsaber.”

*** 

Leia slapped Poe, hard, across the face.

“You’re demoted,” she said as she walked towards the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon.

“Again?” Poe groaned under his breath, rubbing his jaw dejectedly.

“What were you thinking?” Leia asked over her shoulder as Poe followed her into the passageway.

“I was thinking that we could take out the flagship of the First Order. It was a sitting duck!”

“Yes, you blew up the Finalizer, but at what cost? You exposed Naboo for harboring the Resistance. You nearly got yourself and Finn killed. The First Order will undoubtedly declare war on the Naboo planetary system. The Resistance is on the run again. Poe, you have to get your head on straight.”

“I couldn’t pass up the opportunity, General,” Poe insisted, but Leia stopped and held up a hand to silence him.

“If everyone had your...enthusiasm, we would be in a better place,” Leia conceded, taking one of Poe’s hands in her own, “But enthusiasm cannot come at such high a cost. We almost lost everything. We’ll need to lay low for a while.”

Luke came around the corner at that point.

“We were able to garner enough provisions and water to last us a few standard days,” he told Leia, “Our best course of action seems to be to hang out in hyperspace until we need to refuel. We can try to find a sympathetic system in the meantime. We could do some recruitment, maybe even acquire additional craft.”

For the first time since Luke Skywalker’s arrival, Poe saw, not the Jedi Master, but the Rebel Alliance hero.

Leia’s fingers ghosted over the large gold bangle adorning her left wrist as well as the large, twin blue gemstones ring decorating her right ring finger. She nodded in her agreement, not meeting Luke’s eyes.

“Poe,” Luke said, “Chart a course away from First Order space. We won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.”

Poe knew a dismissal when he heard one, so he nodded farewell and left Luke and Leia in solitude.

Back in the cockpit, he dropped himself unceremoniously into the pilot’s seat. Rose and Finn, who had been conversing in excited tones when he walked in, shared a covert look before Finn asked,

“Bad mood?”

“Who?” Poe asked agitatedly.

“The general.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“She’ll come around,” Rose piped up optimistically.

“No, she won’t.” Poe disagreed angrily. Without warning, he slammed his hands against the command module, causing Finn and Rose to jump.

“What happened to us?” Poe yelled, jumping up from his seat and pacing around the cabin. “We used to command starfleets, we had the backing of the New Republic, we had a Jedi apprentice to go toe to toe with Kylo Ren. We used to take risks. Now what? We’re confined to an old smuggler’s ship, we have no friends in the galaxy, and our Jedi is Kylo Ren’s right hand. There’s nothing left.”

Poe buried his face in his hands. Another silent exchange passed between Finn and Rose before Finn stood and placed an arm around Poe’s shoulders.

“We have hope,” Rose said, smiling, “and rebellions are built on hope. Good people will fight if we lead them.”

Chewbacca ducked into the cockpit then, roaring his agreement. Rose hugged him.

“In every corner of the galaxy, the downtrodden and oppressed know our symbol and they put their hope in it,” Finn continued, “I know I did.”

Poe dropped his hands to clap Finn on the shoulder and flash a smile at Rose and Chewie before agreeing, albeit a little reluctantly,

“We are the spark that will light the fire that will burn the First Order down.”

***

“Before the fall of the Jedi Order, padawans would be sent to the Crystal Caves of Ilum to gather a kyber crystal to construct their lightsabers.”

Ushar and Rey, the latter clothed in Knight robes several sizes too big, her hood pulled up against the slight planetside breeze, lagged behind Kylo and his other Knights as they departed the Night Buzzard to venture into the forests of Dantooine. After Kylo’s initial declaration that Rey would begin constructing her own lightsaber (after Luke had so rudely stolen his own back), he stalked off with Vicrul to converse in mysterious, soft tones about something that apparently didn’t involve Rey. Ushar was explaining quietly, to avoid drawing attention,

“Ilum fell under control of the First Order while we all were studying at the Jedi Temple, so Skywalker took us to Dantooine instead. This Crystal Cave isn’t quite as magnificent as Ilum’s -”

“But Ilum is floating space dust,” Rey finished sadly, remembering the other tragedies that had occured on Ilum. Ushar nodded. She refused to reveal her surprise in learning that the Knights had all been students of Luke Skywalker - it hurt to remember just how little she knew of the man who called himself Kylo Ren.

“After we escaped Skywalker’s clutches,” Kuruk fell back to join the conversation then, his tone harsh, as if to remind Ushar of where his loyalties lay, “We bled our crystals and fashioned them into the weapons we carry today.”

“What do you mean, ‘bled’ your crystals?” Rey asked.

“Kyber crystals are inherently attuned to the light side of the Force,” Ushar explained, “So in order to be wielded by those like us, they must be imbued with the dark side of the Force. Snoke broke apart our lightsabers and we meditated on the crystals until they bled with the dark side. That’s why all dark siders boast red blades.” 

Rey began to panic. There was no way she was strong enough with the dark side to imbue a near sentient kyber crystal with its power.

“Of course,” Kuruk continued, “Those are the old ways. Our Master is not so fond of them as of late. I imagine that if you achieve the desired results without bleeding the crystal, our Master will...turn a blind eye, so to say.”

“But…” Rey pondered, realization slowly dawning, “That would mean that I would still be drawing at least some of my power from the light side of the Force.”

Ushar and Kuruk exchanged uncomfortable glances.

“You have...profoundly changed our Master, Empress,” Ushar explained haltingly, “What he used to hold as truth he no longer believes. As long as you remain loyal to our Master, he would see no reason to complain.”

Armed with that strange revelation, Rey followed the Knights of Ren further into the forest in silence, contemplating what Ushar could mean as her boots crunched softly against the layering of leaves covering the dirt.

When Rey had first laid eyes on the forests of Takodana, she had marveled at all the green she had never known existed in the galaxy. Here, the forests of Dantooine were not so much green as they were every color - the leaves were vibrant shades of red, orange, and yellow, and many of them lay scattered on the ground, mirrored in the artwork of the sun setting off in the west. The cool breeze kissed her nose as the sun stole the last of the warmth from the day, causing her to draw her hood up further.

They walked for about another twenty minutes before Kylo stopped and held up his hand, signaling to the group they had reached their destination.

“Rey,” he called, his voice distorted by his mask’s modulator. She glanced at Ushar and Kuruk before joining Kylo at the mouth of the cave. It was too dark to see very far inside, but Rey thought she could make out a few glimmers of light from her vantage point.

“Are you ready?” Kylo leaned down and asked, the voice modulator warping the softness in his tone. Rey nodded in agreement. He gestured to the mouth of the cave.

“We’ll be right behind you,” Kylo assured her, “But this is your journey. Meditate on the living Force flowing through the crystals - one will call to you, don’t rush.”

Kylo brushed her bare hand with his gloved one before placing a hand on the small of her back and urging her forward. Rey glanced up at his mask one last time before plunging into the darkness of the cave.

She walked for several minutes, alone except for the soft fall of the Knights’ footsteps a ways behind her, through complete and total darkness. It wasn’t until Rey began to question whether or not Kylo had brought her to the right cave that the faint glimmers she had noticed before grew stronger, and all of a sudden she found herself in the most beautiful place in the galaxy.

Thousands of crystals of varying sizes lined the floors, walls, and ceiling of the cave. They resembled miniature icicles, but each was a different shape, and they all refracted off each other differently, causing the cave to be almost bright as day. She found it hard to believe that the Crystal Cave on Ilum could be any more magnificent than this. Rey could feel the living Force flowing through each crystal - it connected them all, forming a web of energy between themselves and with Rey, as well as the Knights. Her Force sensitivity had never been so heightened. She could feel rather than hear Kylo conversing quietly with his Knights behind her.

Without looking back, she settled into a meditative stance on the ground. She cleared her mind of her concern for the welfare of the Resistance, of the conflict over her newfound role in the First Order, of the complicated and confusing new developments of her relationship with Kylo, and she focused solely on the living Force flowing through each and every crystal in the cave. The Force whispered to her, controlling the breath in her lungs and the beat of her heart, and it didn’t take long for her to forget that she was not alone.  
As she meditated, the Force showed her visions, some moving too quick for her to fully realize, others fading before her eyes. She saw the past - a ship speeding away from Jakku, a little girl with three chestnut colored buns crying. The present - she saw herself reflected in the eyes of Kylo Ren, looking like a true Jedi, drowning in her hooded robes and floating a few inches off the ground. The future was the hardest by far to discern, as she didn’t recognize it immediately. She saw a flash of lightsabers, red on blue, but couldn’t make out the combatants. She saw the dark throne, and herself on it, joined by Kylo Ren. She saw a woman, heavy with child, standing before a tall young man on a planet made of lava. She was crying, begging, _“You’re going down a path I can’t follow.”_ She saw herself standing before Kylo Ren. She was crying as well, imploring him, _“Please don’t go this way.”_ Rey saw herself with Luke and Leia, clothed in the white robes of the Jedi Order.

***

“Master,” Vicrul asked, the rest of the Knights fingering their weapons nervously, waiting for the order to unsheath them, “Master, what should we do?”

Rey was floating upside down ten feet in the air. Her hood had been cast back and her hair hung freely. Her eyes were open but they were unseeing. She was mouthing silent words that looked something like a chant. She looked ethereal, as if she belonged on a moon out in Iego rather than here, among lowly mortals. The walls of the cave trembled, making it sound like the crystals themselves were screaming. Little bits of rock were becoming dislodged from the tremors. The power of the Force crescendoed without stopping. It was terrifying. The Knights had never seen anything like it - they were horrified.

Kylo had ripped off his mask and dropped it to the ground. His eyes were blown wide with fear and awe, Rey’s suspended body reflected in them.

“Master?” Vicrul repeated, but it was at that moment that the Force bond opened and Kylo caught the briefest glimpse of what the Force was showing Rey. Luke Skywalker stood on the island Kylo had once seen in Rey’s mind on Starkiller Base.

_“I’ve seen this raw strength only once before. It didn’t scare me enough then. It does now.”_

The Force bond closed abruptly, thrusting Kylo back into the present.

“Master!” Vicrul shouted against the growing symphony of destruction. The Knights were all wielding their weapons now, so fearful of the power manifested before them they had not waited for a command.

As suddenly as the madness began, it ended, the absolute silence overwhelming and eerie. The Force receded back into the walls of the cave, the rocks stopped moving, and the crystals quieted. Rey was still suspended in the air facing them, her eyes still unseeing, but when she moved her lips, sound burst forth.

“Be with me.”

***

Rey began to fall then, turning herself upright and landing softly on the ground in her original sitting position. Her eyes remained shut. The silence that had bombarded her when the Force first took back its visions was gone now, replaced by an iridescent melody. There was a crystal, Rey realized, that was calling out to her. She reached out with the Force, and found the crystal - it was easy enough, in the otherwise complete silence engulfing her. The energy surrounding the crystal was warm and light, but there was something else there as well, a conflict that was familiar but Rey did not understand. She called the crystal to her with her mind, felt it soar across the cave before it came to a stop in front of her. She kept her eyes closed for a few more moments then, visualizing the crystal in her mind. It continued to sing to her, but it was much softer than before, and she could now hear the agitated voices of the Knights of Ren behind her, reminding her that she was not alone.

When she opened her eyes, the crystal dropped lightly into her hand. It was small, fitting easily inside of her palm, and warm, but heavier than Rey expected. She closed her fingers around it; it felt familiar, as if she was holding someone’s hand. Rey stood then, the crystal still firmly lodged in her grasp, and turned to face Kylo and his Knights.

Though she couldn't see the Knight's faces, each of their Force signatures radiated pure, unbridled fear. She looked to Kylo, who had removed his mask, but his face was a mirror image of his Force signature - absolutely terrified of...something.

Of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I apologize for my elongated absence. I explained more thoroughly in the notes on my other work, but I'll just sum it up for you here - I'm the worst and it will never happen again!
> 
> That being said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I do have a question for anyone who wants to engage in some ~fan theory~ with me: what color and design do you think Rey's lightsaber is going to be? I'm going to be perfectly honest - I did not agree with the color from TROS _at all_. I was ambivalent towards the design, but I felt so strongly that Rey's lightsaber would be a different color. Please let me know what you all think!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 months and 5100 words later...

“What was _that_?”

The Knights of Ren were scattered throughout the overlarge cockpit, their masks discarded in the absence of their Master or the Empress, each face whiter than the next. Vicrul rubbed his hands over his face in a rare show of exhaustion as he sunk into the co - pilot seat. The trek back from the Crystal Cave had been fraught with tension. As soon as they arrived at the _Night Buzzard_ , Kylo had promptly dragged the Empress into the captain’s quarters, and they hadn’t emerged since. Vicrul was trying to ignore the unbelieving whispers of his brothers around him when the door across from him slid open.

"What was what?”

General Hux had buzzed himself into the cockpit and was now standing, arm crossed, staring unapologetically at the Knights. It was a testament to both how shaken the Knights were from the experience on Dantooine as well as how trivial they viewed a potential threat from Hux that none of them moved to replace their helmets. Vicrul sighed.

“Who let you in here?” Trudgen asked rudely. Hux bristled, but ignored him, turning instead to address Kuruk, seated in the pilot seat.

“Chart a course for Chandrila,” Hux ordered.

“You don’t give orders around here,” Cardo responded.

“You’re quite right,” Hux agreed nonchalantly before continuing, “But your Master does.”

“If our Master wanted to give us orders, he would do so himself,” Ap’lek dismissed.

“Perhaps you’re not your Master’s first priority anymore,” Hux smirked.

The Knights exchanged uneasy glances. Ushar recovered first, retorting,

“Been reduced to a messenger boy, then, General?”

Hux ignored him, staring impassively at Vicrul with the air of a man who was willing to wait a long time to get what he wanted.

“Chart a course for Chandrila,” Vicrul murmured under his breath to Kuruk, who nodded before turning to the command center. Vicrul hoped that Hux would take his leave now, but the irritating general settled into one of the seats near the door, set his ankle on his knee, and asked,

“So which one of you savages is going to explain to me what the scavenger did to irritate Ren this time?”

The silence that followed was deafening, but brief.

“Watch yourself, _General_ ,” Trudgen spat, “I believe that’s the Emperor and Empress to whom you are referring.”

Hux waved a hand lazily as he sat comfortably back in his seat.

“Superfluous at best,” he drawled, “Now, someone explain to me what happened.”

The Knights all turned expectantly to Vicrul. At some point during the previous five or so years, Vicrul had become some type of unofficial second in command - he was considered the unofficial leader of the Knights when their Master was otherwise occupied. That unfortunately meant, of course, that he was often tasked with less than pleasant jobs, such as dealing with General Hux.

“The Empress harvested a crystal for her new lightsaber,” Vicrul explained vaguely, staring at a spot above Hux’s head, wondering what in the galaxy was preventing Kylo from coming to their aid.

“What happened to the lightsaber she brought with her?”

“It was never hers,” Kuruk explained without turning to address Hux, his focus never straying from the command board, “It was Skywalker’s. He took it back on Naboo.”

“That lightsaber was Luke Skywalker’s?” Hux’s laugh sounded like a bark.

“Actually,” Ushar interjected brightly, ignoring Vicrul’s threatening gaze, “The way our Master explains it, that lightsaber was constructed and wielded by Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars.”

Hux’s greedy eyes were as large as saucers. Vicrul fought to suppress a moan. Even someone as daft and Force deprived as Hux would surely understand the significance of a lightsaber that once served Darth Vader himself.

Hux recovered from his shock quickly, fixing his features into a mask of disinterest.

“So that explains then,” he drawled, “The scavenger’s prowess. Poor Ren never stood a chance on Starkiller Base.”

“The Empress has strength of her own!” Cardo shot back angrily, “She’s an adept warrior and if whatever happened on Dantooine wasn’t a fever dream, she might be the single being most attuned to the living Force in the galaxy -”

Cardo gasped. Vicrul hung his head in his hands. Hux stood slowly, his eyes ablaze with untremored rage and fury. His voice was barely above a whisper, but the Knights heard every word as clear as if he was yelling in their faces.

“What happened on Dantooine?”

***

“Ben, what happened out there?”

Kylo shook his head as he paced back and forth across the captain’s cabin. He ran a hand absentmindedly through his thick, dark hair. His helmet lay discarded on a table near the door. Rey bounced up and down on the balls of her feet while she waited for an answer. She clasped her hands behind her back, fiddling with the crystal while she waited for an answer.

Kylo had all but dragged Rey back to the ship and into the rooms where they had...fornicated just a few hours previously. Rey felt her cheeks turn pink at the memory. She avoided looking at the bed behind Kylo, whose pacing was incessant, slowly driving her mad as the seconds ticked away.

“Ben!”

Kylo froze, his back to Rey, one hand clenched in a tight fist.

“Why is everyone acting like I’m some sort of...ticking time bomb?”

Without turning around to face her, Kylo began speaking very fast and very low.

“What you just experienced was unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my two decades of studying the Force. It was unnerving, even to seasoned Force users like the Knights. My initial hypothesis is that something inside of you, some aspect of the cosmic Force, interacted violently with the living Force flowing through the crystals. When we get planetside we’ll delve into the archives of the Empire to see what knowledge they reveal. What do you remember? What did you see?”

Rey bit back a snarky reply. Kylo had not even come close to answering her question, but it wasn’t stopping him from asking some of his own.

“I saw…” Rey began, but then she paused, unsure of how much she wished to share. Despite the bond she and Kylo shared, the visions that the Force had granted her felt private. Kylo turned around then, his brown eyes dark and imploring. He was very pale.

“I don’t remember all of it,” Rey admitted, feeling guilty but not exactly sure what for, “But I saw Jakku, and people I did not recognize, and I saw… you.”

“What of me?” Kylo asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

“Just you.” Rey lied. For some reason it felt wrong to tell him that she had seen them together, on the throne of the Sith. Hadn’t he promised they’d let it all die, the Sith, the Jedi - 

The Jedi.

“I know where we can find answers,” Rey exclaimed excitedly, closing the gap between herself and Kylo quickly until their chests were inches apart, “I know where the ancient texts of the Jedi Order are!”

Kylo’s face remained an impassive mask for much longer than Rey felt was strictly necessary.

“There’s nothing in those texts that could help you,” he said finally, his voice soft but quivering with poorly controlled anger, the hollow of his eyes twitching as his hands clenched in tight fists at his side, “Nothing in those words but lies and empty promises.”

“Ben, I -”

“And where would we happen to find the Jedi texts?” Kylo’s rage erupted without warning, and he threw up his hands in exasperation. Rey took a step back. “With Skywalker? Organa? What are you implying, _Empress_?”

Kylo practically spat the title at her, taunting her with the reminder of what she had pledged to - and what she had left behind.

“I’m not implying anything, you obstinate _ass_!” Despite Rey’s best efforts to keep her cool, she was drained from the sojourn on Dantooine and frustrated at Kylo’s sudden turn of temperament, and she was matching his anger tit for tat. “You all are treating me like I grew six extra heads and I’m just trying to figure out why and for some reason that offends you!”

“You renounce the Resistance, yet I know you smuggled the pilot and the traitor off the _Finalizer_ , and you lie about it,” Kylo yelled, the room shaking with the strength of their combined rage in the Force, “You chart us on a course for Naboo, and their monarch just happens to be harboring terrorists who blow up the very ship on which they were meant to be imprisoned. You claim to have seen the error of the Jedi ways, yet here you are, expecting Luke Skywalker to swoop in and magically solve any mystery the Force presents to you.”

Rey was dumbstruck. Kylo sneered at her.

“Do you tire of me already? You’re no prisoner - you are free to rejoin the rebel scum at any time.”

Rey laughed coldly. The walls around her heart that she had worked so hard to build ever since her defection from the Resistance came crashing down with each barb from Kylo. The irony was palpable.

“As if you wouldn’t kill me the moment I forwent your bidding,” Rey scoffed, wearing her hurt like armor, crossing her arms across her chest, shielding herself from the reminder that life could never give her everything she wanted.

Kylo stilled then, and Rey felt the anger in his Force signature dampen. He inhaled sharply before stepping forward quickly and crushing her to him in a tight embrace. Rey turned her face to his chest to hide the tears welling up in her eyes. The crystal was warm in her palm, pressing sharply into her skin as her hand rested against his back.

“I could never harm you,” he rasped into her hair, “The deed would split me to the bone.”

***

“Where are they presently?”

“Hyperspace. They estimate they have less than a standard week’s worth of fuel left.”

Arapai sighed. The Resistance had given her about two minutes notice before they blew up the _Finalizer_. She barely made it out alive; she had no idea if the other spy survived. Even if she had salvaged a comm device from the wreckage, it wouldn’t have done her any good - the other Resistance loyal never showed their face. As she fled the plumes of smoke that had been the First Order’s flagship, she retrieved a blaster from a stormtrooper lying dead on the cobblestones of the Naboo courtyard, and she fought her way up to the palace of Theed until she found who she thought to be last remaining rebel on the planet.

“Why did you do it? Why did you reveal Skywalker and Organa to Ren? The First Order will undoubtedly declare war on Naboo within cycles,” Arapai couldn’t help asking.

Queen Iellal Baize smiled sadly. The ornate throne room in the Palace of Theed had remained virtually unscathed, the serene, picturesque backdrop visible through the gigantic window behind the throne a stark contrast to the many heavily armed royal guards marching through charred courtyards and up damaged staircases. The Naboo monarch was elaborately dressed in robes of deep amethyst, her crescent moon headdress embellished with the actual gemstone. The paint on the queen’s face could not disguise her apprehension at what was to come.

“To my credit,” Queen Baize replied coyly, “My intention was never for the Emperor to learn that any other than the children of Padme Amidala took refuge on my planet. They requested an audience with him specifically; I think that the Master Jedi thought he could be reasoned with. General Organa’s pilot had other plans, however. I hear that he is quite the flyboy.”

Arapai rolled her eyes. Poe Dameron was brave, cocky, and fearless - characteristics that made him both dangerous and admirable.

“I have spoken with my advisors,” the queen continued, “And we agree that we cannot stand idly by and watch as another Empire rises from the ashes of a failed democracy. If the First Order declares war, Naboo will fight - but how to break the cycle? There must be a better way.”

“General Organa carries that question in her heart,” Arapai said quietly, “It weighs heavily on her soul.”

The queen paused a minute before responding.

"What do you know of her son?"

Arapai thought the question odd, but she didn't broadcast her puzzlement.

"The boy perished when the Jedi Killer slaughtered Luke Skywalker's students at the Temple on Yavin IV."

“The Jedi Killer?”

"The Emperor," Arapai clarified, her voice dripping with disdain. She understood why General Organa fought the First Order with such vigor.

“I had two Jedi on my planet when this _Jedi Killer_ came calling,” Queen Baize mused, “As far as I know, they both survived.”

“Can the girl even be called a Jedi anymore?” Arapai asked irritatedly.

“I’m not sure,” Iellal admitted, “But she is not whatever dark lord the Emperor fancies himself. She may be a Jedi; she may be something else entirely. The Force works in mysterious ways.”

The silence that stretched over the following moments was not uncomfortable, and after it became clear that Arapai was not going to offer any other thoughts on Leia Organa’s son, the young queen rose and walked around her desk.

“Be that as it may,” she said, “Your compatriot survived the bombing of the _Finalizer_.”

Arapai looked up in surprise.

“They made contact a short while before our audience,” Queen Baize explained, “They instructed me to contact the Master Jedi, but I will allow you to do the honors. You can use mine and General Organa’s personal channel.”

Arapai scrambled out of her seat, following the queen to the communications bay.

“What did they say?” She asked excitedly.

“Something has happened with the Empress. It is imperative that Skywalker is made aware of this and seeks her out. Otherwise, she may truly be the last Jedi.”

***

“Be with me.”

The crystal hovered above Rey’s palm, vibrating gently in front of her face. She sat cross legged, eyes closed, in a dark room of a First Order base on the planet of Chandrila. Kylo slipped quietly through the door, leaning gently against the wall with his arms crossed against his chest. His helmet lay forgotten in a training room on the _Night Buzzard_.

“Be with me,” Rey whispered again, momentarily unaware of Kylo’s presence, so absorbed she was in her meditation. Since their arrival planetside three cycles ago, most of his days proceeded like this - in between meetings, military exercises, and the general monotony of ruling over a galactic empire, Kylo would join Rey as she meditated on her crystal and searched for answers regarding both their Force bond and the mysterious occurrence of Dantooine.

 _“Meditating on your crystal will bind you to it,”_ Kylo had explained to Rey when they arrived on Chandrila, _“And prepare it to harness the energy of the Force as it serves as the life source for your blade. Sometimes, your meditation will even hint as to how to best construct your blade to serve you and your particular skills - or shortcomings. You will never get quite as good results with another’s light saber.”_

Rey’s meditations were proving successful; he sensed that she would be prepared to begin constructing her hilt by the next day. His insistence, however, that the archives of the Empire would provide sufficient knowledge to answer their questions about the Force had not come to fruition, much to his chagrin. He spent his nights wide awake, searching desperately for an explanation for why the Force acted in such a way.

If he was being completely honest with himself, he was also avoiding Rey - again, like he had after the first appearance of the ghost of Anakin Skywalker. She had yet to mention the Jedi texts again, and they had fallen back into their usual bickering and bantering not long after their embrace on the _Night Buzzard_ , but after their...indiscretions, he wasn’t sure how to proceed. Kylo spent most of his days plagued with self - loathing and doubt, but it was intensified now as he pondered the nature of his relationship with Rey.

Rey’s eyes snapped open then, sensing Kylo’s Force signature for the first time since he entered the room. The crystal dropped back lightly onto her palm and she closed her fingers around it. Kylo watched as she uncrossed her lithe legs and stood to face him. It was twilight, and the way the dying light reflected off her hazel eyes made him feel like he was back in the Crystal Cave. Her eyes had a little green in them; he had never noticed that before. He fought the urge to look away from the sudden onslaught of Rey’s ethereal beauty - he felt unworthy to lay his eyes on something so pure and good.

She cocked an eyebrow at him, and Kylo snapped out his trance long enough to remember why he was there. He coughed lightly.

“I brought you something,” he admitted softly. Rey smiled.

 _I don’t deserve your kindness_ , he thought suddenly, _Not when I’m constantly hurting you so._

He reached into the inner pocket of his tunic and withdrew a small square block of iron, turning it over in his gloved hands a few times before handing it to Rey, whose eyes grew large and mouth dropped open as realization dawned on her features. Any scavenger worth her stuff would recognize - 

“Mandalorian iron,” Rey breathed, and Kylo knew they were thinking the same thing - even as small a portion as this would have been enough to buy her freedom ten times over on Jakku, “Thank you, Ben.”

“Beskar,” Kylo affirmed awkwardly, “Not much, but enough to coat the hilt of a lightsaber.”

Rey stopped her admiration of the gift long enough to shoot Kylo a puzzled look.

“I wasn’t aware that was standard practice,” Rey said suspiciously, her eyes narrowing slightly as she scrutinized Kylo.

“It’s not,” Kylo admitted, “But -”

***

“- but had Maul been wielding a beskar coated saberstaff I might never have gained the upper hand on Naboo,” Obi - Wan was explaining to Anakin as they watched the events unfolding from a distance, “It’s actually rather clever, although the irony of coating a Jedi weapon with an alloy wielded by some of the Order’s fiercest enemies is not lost on me.”

“Master, you know better than I that the Mandalorians were not enemies to all Jedi,” Anakin drawled, his sardonic smirk growing ever wider as he remembered the soft spot Obi - Wan harbored for a certain Mandalorian duchess, “And didn’t you fall down a reactor shaft after bisecting Maul’s blade?”

Obi - Wan rolled his eyes and changed the subject, pointing out, “So he thinks she’ll wield a saberstaff then? I can’t think of another blade that would benefit more from beskar than a staff.”

Anakin did not respond immediately. He watched the way that Ben looked at Rey, noting the fierce protectiveness with which he observed her examining the beskar, how he unconsciously moved closer to her to explain the marbling pattern, and how the sides of his mouth turned up slightly when she unexpectedly hugged him around his waist.

_If you live long enough, you see the same eyes in different people._

“I think that he would do anything to protect her,” Anakin said softly. Obi - Wan glanced over at Anakin sadly as he continued, “No matter how ludicrous or unreasonable, he would risk his life - risk other’s lives - for a chance at saving hers. She is, of course, perfectly capable of handling herself, but that is of little consequence. Nothing would be too dangerous or difficult. It brings him strength, makes him powerful, but at such high a cost.”

Anakin blinked and looked away. Obi - Wan reached out and patted his arm soothingly.

“That’s why the Order forbade attachments,” Obi - Wan finished gently, “But the task set before our very young friends is so different that anything with which the Jedi Order grappled. I think they’ll need all the strength they can muster. They make each other strong. That will be enough, I think, for now.”

“For now, Master, yes,” Anakin agreed, as he and Obi - Wan turned away and walked towards the setting sun.

***

As Kylo held her tight, Rey couldn’t help but feel a misplaced burst of affection at his protectiveness. She knew that she was brave and strong enough to hold her own against anyone - including him. It just felt so good to be cared for and looked after, especially after a decade and a half of having no one to fend for her. She had never felt less alone than she did in this moment, cradled in Kylo’s arms and holding the gift of his promise that she was not alone in her hands.

She pulled back slightly to look up at Kylo. His face was paler than usual, the circles under his eyes more pronounced. _He must think I haven’t noticed that he’s not slept at all since we arrived, Rey thought to herself._

She placed the beskar and the crystal gingerly in the pockets of her robes - she and Kylo had found a pair that fit her properly - and reached up to caress his face. The moment her fingertips touched his scar his entire body relaxed, collapsing on top of her in relief. She stroked his cheek, the skin rough with afternoon stubble, and ran her other hand through his hair while she buried her face in his collarbone.

 _I wish it were always this easy_ , Rey thought as Kylo kissed the top of her head, _I wish we didn’t fight so much._

She wished that she didn’t give them so much to fight about.

Rey had never kissed anyone before Kylo - she had neither the time nor inclination to do so - so she never would have assumed that there were so many ways to kiss someone. She had kissed him angrily, passionately, contritely. She had kissed him like it was the first thing she thought about in the morning, or the last thing she thought she would ever do, and kissing him made her feel like she was drowning or flying or falling apart, sometimes all at once.

Right now, she kissed him softly, and he responded in kind, his mouth moving sweetly against hers, his hands never straying from their chaste position on her hips, and in that moment, kissing him felt like coming home. There was a growing familiarity in the fullness of his lips and the softness of his tongue as it moved against hers, and instead of boring her, it was comforting. Rey had always been like a sand storm, constantly moving, never stopping to rest or take stock of the destruction she left in her wake. Time never stood so still as when Kylo’s lips were pressed to hers.

Rey tangled her fingers in Kylo’s hair and sighed against his cheek, moving her lips to kiss the corner of his mouth, trailing kisses down the side of his jaw before stopping to nip at the soft spot between his jaw and his ear. She had to stand on her tiptoes to reach his face. Kylo moaned softly into Rey’s ear, the kisses becoming less and less sweet, and more desperate and heated. Kylo’s hands strayed to cup Rey’s bottom. The anticipation built in Rey’s stomach, arousal coiling down to her center. Ever since their escapade on the _Night Buzzard_ , Rey found it difficult to focus on anything other than the way Kylo’s lips had felt against her skin. Her meditations had been interrupted more than once with the memory of his head between her legs. The heat growing in her abdomen increased when she felt Kylo’s erection against her stomach.

It was always like this - through the bond, they felt the same emotions, the same needs, the same desires. Sometimes it was infuriating, having someone else in your head, and there were many times when it was inconvenient, but right now, it felt like all was right in the galaxy, even though she knew it was not.

Kylo ducked his head and in one swift motion, pulled her robes over her head so that she stood there in just a pair of black underwear and a matching breast band, her feet still clad in her black leather boots. The light from the setting sun bathed the training room in soft gold tones that reflected off Kylo’s dark hair, making it look like he had a halo. He took a step closer to her and began kissing her collarbones, fondling her breasts with one gloved hand while the other stroked his erection through his pants.

Rey got a wicked idea then. She stepped back from Kylo’s wandering hands. He looked at her with such hurt in his big, dark eyes for just a second before she dropped to her knees in front of him and began fiddling with the clasps on his trousers.

“Rey,” Kylo moaned, his hands stuck in her loose hair, his eyelids fluttering shut, “What are you doing?”

Rey finally undid the last clasp and his underwear - clad erection spilled out of the front of his pants. Rey smiled coyly up at him.

“I owe you one,” she said demurely, and she steeled herself with unearned courage before asking the same question he had asked her days ago on the _Night Buzzard_.

“May I?”

Kylo nodded quickly, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. His eyes were blown wide with lust and anticipation. From her vantage point on her knees, Kylo looked larger than life, his broad shoulders and thick thighs obstructing her view of the rest of the room. 

Rey wondered if he was...proportional. Down there. 

She held her breath as he slid his underwear down carefully, freeing himself from the soft cotton. Kylo was...more than proportional. He was huge, his skin there pink and taut, exposing a vein on the underside while precum beaded at the tip. Rey felt the blood rush to her cheeks.

Without glancing up at Kylo, Rey wrapped a hand lightly around his cock. The skin was soft and smooth, and Rey stroked her up and down the length gently out of abject curiosity.  


Kylo moaned softly. Rey looked up at him then. He was staring down at her with a look that was equal parts awestruck and amused. Rey tried to glance up at him seductively through her eyelashes, but she was pretty sure that she was about as alluring as an exceptionally hairy bantha.  


Rey continued to run her hand up and down, feeling his erection become even impossibly harder underneath her fingers. She kept her eyes on Kylo now; it was easier, somehow, now that the sound barrier had been broken. The hard muscles of his abdomen were barely visible below the hem of his tunic, and his hair hid his eyes from view. All she could see of his face were his plush lips, parted slightly. Her tongue darted out to wet her own.

Rey took a deep breath, and quickly brought her lips to the tip of Kylo’s cock. His gloved hands, which had somehow found themselves wrapped up in the strands of her loose hair, tightened as she ran her tongue up and down his shaft slowly, taking in a barrage of new sensations all at once.

Kylo’s breathing was quickening, and each time Rey explored a previously untouched swatch of skin, he stopped breathing completely. More than once, he sighed audibly. Rey, unable to help herself, ran her tongue slowly along the underside of his cock, peeking up at him while she did so. Kylo pulled hard on her hair in response. Rey moaned involuntarily.

“Rey,” Kylo breathed, distracting Rey momentarily from her task, “Please.”

Rey was far more nervous to engage in this new act than she let on, but the heat between her thighs eventually won out over her apprehensions. Rey screwed her eyes shut, opened her mouth, and wrapped her lips around his cock, taking in as much as she could and covering the rest with her hand. The sensation of his shaft in her mouth was a little uncomfortable but not unpleasant; far from it, she was loath to admit that the feeling aroused her.

Rey moved her head up and down his length, but before she could complete more than a few iterations, Kylo hissed in an unpleasant way. Rey stopped immediately, embarrassed that he wasn’t enjoying himself.

“No don’t stop,” Kylo insisted, “It’s just - you have teeth.” He looked abashed.

“Right,” Rey agreed, hiding her mortification and steeling herself to try again, but before she could, Kylo grabbed her by the chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. His dark eyes were kind; it was an unusual sight.

“Rey, it’s really good. Don’t think it’s not. Thank - thank you.”

_Who are you and what have you done with Kylo Ren?_

Rey nodded, and tried again, this time covering her teeth with her lips. Kylo sighed and wrapped his fingers through her hair again. Embolden by his praise, she began to take a little more of him with each downward thrust of her mouth. She had never blown anyone before, but she knew the basic principle, so she hollowed out her cheeks and began sucking in harmony with each impetus of her head. The sounds Kylo made in response were reward enough.

Rey found far more pleasure in the act than she expected. Kylo’s cock was warm and soft against her tongue, and she was relishing in the way he stretched out her lips, making her choke and gag involuntarily as she struggled to take the entirety of stupidly huge length at once. Each time he pulled her hair or rammed his cock into the back of her throat she could feel herself growing wetter.

Rey sucked and licked at him, running her hand up and down the base of him as she did so. As time went on, her jaw became a little sore and her knees stung from the hard floor, but all of that paled in comparison to the heat coiling below her ribs.

Just as Rey was beginning to think that there were very few places in the world she preferred to be than sucking off the Emperor of the First Order, Kylo interrupted her stream of consciousness, saying in a strained voice,

“Rey, I’m very, very close.”

Maker, how it made her throb. She pressed her knees together in an attempt to relieve some of the pressure building at the apex of her legs and doubled down on her efforts. Kylo had been very close - he came very suddenly, his spend spilling into her mouth, surprisingly salty against her tongue. He called out her name as he rocked back and forth in her mouth. She continued to work her mouth up and down his erection as he finished, and it wasn’t until the waves of orgasm pulsed through his body that she removed her lips with a satisfying pop and swallowed his cum all at once.

***

For the first time since arriving on Chandrila, Kylo and Rey slept in the same bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rey's lightsaber is coming next chapter and I am Excited (TM).


End file.
